S!SSSS>sSS!^<sSS\x 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON.    N.    J. 


Presented  by 


BL  240  .D5413  1882 
Didon,  Henri,  1840-1900. 
Science  without  God 


c^ 


SCIENCE   WITHOUT   GOD 


SCIENCE  WITHOUT  GOD 


BY 

H.  DIDON 


TRANSLATED  FROM   THE  FRENCH  BY 


ROSA   CORDER 


■  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God  " 


NEW  YORK 

THOMAS  WHITTAKER,  2  h  3,  BTBLE   HOUSE 
1882 


(^AU  riphU  reserved.) 


PKEFACE. 


No  apology  is  needed  for  presenting  to  the  English 
public  a  translation  of  the  great  Dominican's 
masterpiece.  The  evil  he  attacks  is  not  confined 
to  the  Continent  ;  and  his  eloquent  defence  of 
reason  and  humanity  should  be  welcomed  in 
England  by  every  lover  of  truth,  and  by  every 
honest  doubter.  The  peculiar  grace  of  the  great 
orator's  style  must  necessarily  be  somewhat  lost 
in  the  translation  from  a  Latin  to  a  Teutonic 
tongue,  but  his  scientific  knowledge  and  fearless 
logic  retain  their  force  in  any  language.  The 
peculiar  value  of  these  sermons,  and  the  quality 
which  would  at  once  strike  any  one  acquainted  with 
theological  writings,  is  that  they  are  thoroughly  of 
the  present  century,  and  exhibit  a  breadth  of  view 
and  advanced  scientific  knowledge  very  seldom 
displayed  by  theologians  of  this  or  any  age.  Their 
utterly    unsectarian    character    should    commend 


VI  PREFACE. 

them  most  especially  to  the  consideration  of  the 
thoughtful  and  intelligent,  for  whom,  as  the  author 
himself  tells  us,  they  were  composed.  That  their 
influence  may  help  to  root  out  some  of  the  per- 
nicious and  absurd  doctrines  now  in  vogue,  and 
at  the  same  time  strengthen  those  whose  faith 
is  wavering,  is  the  translator's  very  earnest  hope, 
as  it  is  assuredly  the  author's  most  fervent  prayer. 

EOSA  COEDEE. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

l'AGE 

Faith  and  Experimental  Science I 

FIRST  DISCOURSE. 

P0S1TIVIS.>I •''i 

SECOND  DISCOURSE. 
Materialism         ^1 

THIRD  DISCOURSE. 

Atheistic  Pantheism     105 

FOURTH  DISCOURSE. 
Scepticism 12G 

FIFTH  DISCOURSE. 
Pkactical  Atheism        150 

SIXTH  DISCOURSE. 
The  Existence  OP  God 174 

SEVENTH  DISCOURSE. 
Rational  Knowledge  of  God  196 


SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

INTEODUCTION. 

FAITH   AND   EXPEEIMENTAL    SCIENCE. 

The  most  glorious  age  is  that  in  which  great 
questions  are  solved;  the  most  stormy,  that  in 
which  they  are  raised.  It  seems  that  on  this 
nineteenth  century  the  hard  task  has  devolved  of 
raising,  without  solving,  the  most  numerous  and 
important  problems.  It  is  now  in  its  decline,  and 
is  still  a  prey  to  the  most  terrible  conflicts. 

The  question  of  peace  has  been  put  forward,  and 
has  not  been  answered.  Ten  gigantic  struggles  of 
nation  against  nation  have  rendered  this  epoch  one 
of  the  most  sanguinary  in  history. 

The  social  question  has  been  put  forth  afresh, 
and  has  not  been  answered.  The  sinister  exploits 
of  Socialism,  unchained  for  an  instant  in  France, 
growing  in  America,  and  multiplying  its  threats 
and  outrages  in  Germany  and  Eussia,  demonstrate 
this. 


is  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

The  question  of  liberty  has  been  put  forth:  it 
has  not  been  solved.  In  practice,  the  limits  of 
this  irresistible  force  have  not  been  settled,  and  we 
are  now  witnessing  the  shameful  spectacle  of  a 
pusillanimity  which  shrinks  from  carrying  out  to 
its  full  extent  the  work  of  enfranchisement  begun 
by  Christ,  and  of  an  inconsistent  liberalism  which, 
when  in  power,  insolently  treads  underfoot  the 
liberty  it  had  before  pretended  to  worship. 

The  political  question  has  been  raised  :  it  has 
not  been  solved.  Intellects  wander  at  random, 
regardless  of  those  laws  which  rule  the  normal 
development  of  nations.  Here  preachers  of  de- 
mocracy and  republicanism  inveigh  blindly  and 
disdainfully  against  religion;  as  though  religion 
was  not  a  condition  of  every  wise  democracy  and 
of  every  prosperous  republic.  There  obstinate 
partisans  of  decayed  régimes  make  of  their  political 
idea  a  principle  as  immutable  as  a  dogma. 

Our  century  has  put  forward  the  question  of 
economy  :  it  has  not  been  solved.  We  have  only 
just  begun  to  know  how  to  water  the  land  that  it 
may  produce,  and  to  diminish  distances  in  order  to 
facilitate  commerce.  The  great  public  works  of 
irrigation,  of  canal  cutting,  or  of  railroads,  are 
abandoned,  or,  more  often,  habitually  given  over, 
to  the  caprices  of  a  policy  of  expediency,  or  the 
unintelligent  suggestions  of  a  greedy  cupidity. 

The  question  of  education  has  been  raised  :  it 
has  not  been  solved.  The  State  certainly  has  its 
rights  in  this  matter  ;  but  have  not  the  individual 
and    the  father   also   theirs  ?      People  preoccupy 


FAITH    AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  6 

themselves  about  the  former — have  they  also 
thought  of  the  latter  ?  When  by  its  compulsory 
programme  the  State  insists  upon  an  excessive 
study  of  Sciences,  where  is  my  guarantee  ?  And 
when,  to  the  detriment  of  intelligence,  it  falsifies 
and  mutilates  philosophic  teaching,  what  is  my 
defence  ? 

The  nineteenth  century  has  put  forward  the  re- 
ligious question  under  many  forms  :  it  has  not  yet 
been  practically  solved  under  one.  Are  the  relations 
between  Church  and  State  clearly  defined  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  preserve  their  respective  rights  ? 
Do  we  not  every  hour  see  armed  might  outrage 
without  any  consideration  the  holy  independence  of 
human  conscience,  under  the  most  futile  pretexts 
of  national  feeling,  or  of  the  pretended  dogmas  of 
a  new  and  scientific  orthodoxy?  Is  the  question 
of  agreement  between  tli2  Church,  democracy,  and 
liberty  by  any  means  settled  ? 

Is  the  most  profound  and,  to  my  thinking,  most 
urgent  question  of  all,  between  modern  exj)eri- 
mental  science,  intoxicated  by  its  conquests, 
exalted  by  its  progress,  applauded  by  the  opinion 
which  it  governs,  and  religious  faith  retarded  by 
its  alliance  with  the  insuf&cient  or  erroneous  science 
of  the  ancients — this  question,  I  say,  so  vital  to 
those  minds  who  desire  neither  to  sacrifice  Science 
or  Faith,  is  it  solved  ? 

Everywhere  are  problems,  everywhere  strife. 

The  thinking  few  are  anxious  and  despairing; 
and  until  in  calm  and  in  reflection  reason  shall 
have   answered,   passion   speaks,  and,   instead  of 


4  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

harmonizing  all  by  truth  and  justice,  it  breathes 
everywhere  a  blast  of  hatred  and  discord. 

In  the  question  of  peace  and  war,  passion  cries, 
Let  us  have  no  more  war.  Eeason  says,  Let  there 
be  no  more  unjust  wars.  The  sword  which  is  the 
protection  of  oppressed  weakness,  and  the  safe- 
guard of  right,  has  a  sanctity  like  that  of  the  cross 
by  which  we  are  saved. 

In  the  question  of  economy,  passion  cries,  War  to 
capital  !  Capital,  affrighted,  hides  itself  in  mis- 
trust. Eeason  knows  neither  this  cry  nor  this 
mistrust.  If  labour  has  its  duties,  it  has  also  its 
rights  ;  and  if  capital  has  its  rights,  it  has  none 
the  less  its  duties.  Eeason  does  not  seek  to  put 
labour  in  revolt  against  capital,  which  leads  only 
to  the  tyranny  of  the  one  over  the  other,  but  it 
endeavours  to  find  the  harmonious  relation  of  these 
two  necessary  and  indestructive  forces.  Then  each 
would  be  appeased.  The  workman  would  know 
that  it  depended  only  upon  himself  to  be  a  master, 
and  the  master,  penetrated  by  the  sense  of  his 
responsibility,  would  never  forget  that  he  is  but  the 
first  of  workmen.  He  is  no  longer  the  muscle  that 
obeys,  he  has  become  the  brain  which  commands  ; 
the  work  has  not  disappeared  by  changing  its 
organ,  it  has  but  increased  and  ennobled  itself. 

In  the  question  of  liberty,  passion,  ever  blind  and 
egotistical,  sees  only  its  emancipation  and  forgets 
the  curb.  It  thinks  only  of  movement,  but  has  no 
thought  of  the  direction  ;  it  looks  at  its  strength, 
not  at  the  law  which  should  guide  it;  or  rather, 
it  foolishly  opposes  force  to  law,  action  to  that 


FAITH   AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  5 

which  directs  it.  It  is  good,  certainly,  to  break  our 
chains,  but  it  is  madness  to  tear  off  all  restraint  ; 
and  if  it  is  necessary  to  exercise  force,  it  is  puerile 
and  dangerous  to  leave  it  without  guidance.  Now, 
the  restraint  of  liberty  is  authority,  and  its  guide 
is  the  conscience.  The  ideal  is  to  put  in  harmony 
these  two  inseparable  powers,  not  to  oppose  them  : 
to  wish  to  exalt  one  to  the  detriment  of  the  other 
leads,  sooner  or  later,  to  their  mutual  ruin. 

In  the  question  of  progress,  passion  and  pre- 
judice see  only  one  side  of  things.  We  rush  on  to 
what  we  call  advancement,  without  ever  even 
asking  ourselves  if  the  object  of  our  pursuit  is 
more  than  a  mirage  ;  we  forget  that  time  must 
prepare  and  test  the  improvements  of  which  we 
dream,  and  we  destroy  angrily  and  impatiently  all 
traces  of  the  past.  Instead  of  inducing  a  fruitful 
evolution,  we  raise  sterile  revolutions.  We  blaspheme 
the  past,  instead  of  seeking  to  complete  it,  and, 
under  pretext  of  creating  a  new  world,  accumulate 
a  heap  of  ruins.  I  pity  these  ill-born  sons,  who 
are  incapable  of  recognizing  the  greatness  of  their 
forefathers,  and  who  beheve  with  naïve  arrogance 
that  the  world  begins  in  their  own  heads  ! 

Let  us  leave  it  to  passion  to  create  antagonisms, 
to  oppose  the  future  to  the  past,  that  which  should 
be  to  that  which  was;  and  let  us  rather  seek  to 
reconcile  the  sons  to  their  fathers  :  all  that  grows 
gains  by  the  remembrance  of  its  birth,  and  by 
drawing  near  to  its  originator. 

A  more  liberal  science  of  the  evolution  of  nations 
would  silence  these  senseless  outcries  which  cause 


b  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

SO  much  trouble  in  a  country  ;  and  it  would  also 
take  away  all  belief  in  these  so-called  Conservatives, 
to  whom  all  change  is  a  political  impiety.  To 
believe  these  prudent  spirits,  nothing  is  good  but 
antiquity.  The  efforts  of  the  living  should  be 
limited  to  its  preservation  or  revival.  Political 
aims,  according  to  them,  are  as  immutable  as  the 
genius  or  the  temperament  of  a  race.  Ask  what  will 
be  to-morrow,  they  will  tell  you,  That  which  was 
yesterday.  This  is  their  one  and  invariable  reply. 
It  surely  would  be  more  just  to  answer.  That  which 
will  be  to-morrow  is  that  which  was  not  yesterday, 
or  that  which  existed  only  in  germ.  Yesterday  the 
acorn,  to-day  the  oak. 

Let  us  not  belong  to  an  immutable  past,  nor  to 
a  future  without  ancestry.  Let  us  courageously 
prepare  for  what  should  be,  remembering  that  to 
add  one  stone  to  the  edifice  it  is  necessary  to  know 
the  plan,  and  to  take  into  account  the  work  of  those 
who  have  laboured  before  us. 

It  is  the  same  with  regard  to  the  teaching  and 
education  of  the  rising  generation.  Violent  secta- 
rians think  only  of  monopolizing  everything.  Are 
they  the  masters  ?  everything  must  at  once  be  cast 
in  their  mould,  and  every  growing  creature  be 
stamped  with  their  effigy.  State  Eeason  is  the 
mask  of  their  tyranny.  They  do  not  come  to 
persuade,  but  to  compel.  Instead  of  sending  you 
ajDostles,  they  send  you  the  police.  Are  they  the 
vanquished  ?  they  have  but  one  aim,  to  become 
masters  in  order  to  inflict  their  intolerance  upon 
the  minority. 


FAITH   AND    EXPEBIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  7 

I  do  not  like  to  see  truth  violently  forced  upon 
any  one.  Wliy  not  respect  each  one's  right,  and 
render  to  the  head  of  the  family  that  which  is 
of  the  family,  to  the  State  that  which  is  the 
State's,  to  God  that  which  is  God's  ?  Thus  would 
be  avoided  these  oppressions  which  disgust  natures 
jealous  of  their  legitimate  independence  ;  political 
right  would  he  respected;  and  one  would  imitate 
God  Himself,  who  fears  not  to  leave  the  world  to 
the  terrible  law  of  the  struggle  for  existence,  and 
to  bring  forth  universal  progress  out  of  a  pathway 
of  blood. 

Above  all  these  questions,  yet  indissolubly  linked 
with  them,  rises  that  of  Eeligion.  It  is  to  resolve 
this  in  harmony  with  the  intelligence  of  this  age, 
without  sacrificing  either  the  rights  of  man  or  the 
rights  of  truth,  that  so  many  efforts  are  made. 
How  so  ?  say  some.  Is  not  the  religious  question 
already  settled  ?  And  those  troubled  souls  in  search 
of  a  pretended  solution,  are  they  not  like  a  disabled 
ship,  without  rudder  or  compass,  which,  instead  of 
looking  for  the  beacon,  drifts  here  and  there  at  the 
will  of  the  tempest  ? 

Certainly,  if  by  the  religious  question  is  under- 
stood that  divine  Truth  which  is  the  unchangeable 
object  of  faith,  or  of  the  sovereign  authority  which 
declares  it,  all  is  solved.  The  creed,  the  gospel, 
and  the  Church  are  there  :  it  is  enough  to  open 
the  eye  and  to  incline  the  ear.  But  if  by  the 
religious  question  is  meant  the  rational  interpreta- 
tion of  Faith,  or  the  harmonious  alliance  of  the 


8  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

Church  with  the  iDowers  of  this  world,  at  any 
moment  of  the  evolution  of  nations,  then  the 
religious  question  becomes  a  problem,  and  a  formid- 
able one.  It  engrosses  the  attention,  I  am  not 
afraid  to  assert,  of  the  entire  world,  and  it  is  being 
put  forward  clamorously  in  every  country  :  in 
Europe  and  America;  in  the  East  as  in  the  West  ; 
amongst  the  Slavs,  the  Germans,  and  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  as  amongst  the  Latin  races  ;  in  Kussia, 
the  country  of  schism  ;  in  England  and  Germany, 
the  countries  of  Protestantism  ;  in  Italy  and  Spain, 
where  faith  seemed  to  have  kept  best  its  outward 
semblance,  as  much  as  in  Francs,  where  free 
thought  is  the  most  turbulent  and  aggressive. 

In  placing  its  foot  upon  the  earth,  the  Church 
encounters  political  powers.  How  does  it  bear 
itself  with  regard  to  them  ?  Its  kingdom  is  not 
of  this  world,  I  know,  but  yet  it  must  live  in  it. 
In  other  days  it  saw  them  at  its  feet,  faithfully 
submissive,  preparing  it  a  throne  and  partaking 
with  it  of  a  sovereignty  without  dispute  ;  to-day 
it  finds  them  indifferent,  hostile,  or  jealous.  The 
problem,  you  see,  is  serious  and  complicated. 
Blind  indeed  are  they  who  do  not  weigh  its  gravity 
and,  one  may  add,  its  universality.  If  it  exists  it 
must  be  solved.  To  think  that  a  Church  of  which 
Christ  Himself  is  the  corner-stone  can  be  annihilated, 
is  an  illusion  which  a  little  history  is  sufficient 
to  dissipate.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  how  foolish 
to  disregard  the  irresistible  progress  of  human 
society,  which  makes  of  this  world  in  which  the 
Church  exists,  not  a  terra  jirma,  but  a  moving  sea  ! 


FAITH   AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  9 

The  ship  which  carries  Christ  is  divinely  assisted  ; 
she  sails  on  and  can  never  sink,  I  grant,  but  she 
must  have  regard  to  current  and  to  tempest,  to 
accomplish  her  destiny  and  never  to  lose  her 
course. 

The  solution  cannot  be  attained  by  violence,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  violence  compromises  every- 
thing and  never  yet  solved  anything.  It  will  be 
the  work  of  those  guided  by  the  light  of  God,  and 
inspired  by  the  charity  of  Christ  ;  of  those  whose 
glance  is  sufficiently  lofty  and  sufficiently  broad 
to  take  account  of  every  right,  and  to  find  harmonj^ 
possible  where  others  see  only  an  irreconcilable 
conflict.  Neither  concession,  nor  bigotry:  such 
must  be  thek  device.  Concessions  mean  the 
abdication  of  a  right  ;  they  are  a  weakness,  almost 
an  act  of  treason.  Bigotry  is  persistent  before 
impossibilities  ;  it  is  the  quality  of  a  prejudiced 
mind,  and  a  narrow  nature  carried  away  by 
passion.  But  between  those  who  yield  through 
cowardice  and  those  who  resist  through  stubborn- 
ness there  will  always  be  a  place  for  those  who 
would  conciHate. 

The  politico-religious  question  whose  extremes 
we  have  just  indicated  is  assuredly  one  of  the 
greatest  of  this  century.  The  day  in  which  it  will 
be  practically  solved,  in  which  the  Cross  shall  be 
imposed  as  a  peaceful  check  upon  the  swords 
brandished  in  the  hands  of  the  leaders  of  nations, 
will  be  one  of  the  most  splendid  that  has  ever 
shone    upon    this    earth,   which,    after    so   many 


10  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

centuries,  drinks  ever  insatiably  the  blood  of  Abel. 
Will  it  ever  come  ?  Will  the  sons  of  God,  and  the 
peacemakers,  as  the  Gospel  calls  them,  ever  have 
dominion  over  this  earth,  which  seems  a  prey  to 
violence  ?    Why  refuse  all  hope  of  this  ? 

Man  has  conquered  by  his  reason  and  his  courage 
the  animal  kingdom;  he  has  quelled  those  re- 
doubtable mammifera  who  believed  themselves,  by 
their  number,  their  strength,  and  their  ferocity, 
sovereigns  of  this  earth,  which  was  peopled  by  their 
countless  legions.  Christ  and  His  descendants  will 
also  vanquish  by  their  divine  gentleness,  their 
charity,  and  their  teaching,  the  heathen  offspring 
of  brutalized  man.  So  much  the  worse  for  those 
who  do  not  believe  in  good,  who  doubt  the  infinite 
efficacy  of  Christ's  blood,  and  who  impiously 
declare  Him  wanting,  in  that  balance  in  which 
God  weighs  the  crimes  and  corruption  of  humanity. 
The  hierarchy  is  the  guardian  of  this  blood.  It 
bears  in  the  midst  of  nations  and  of  centuries  its 
incorruptible  treasure,  its  sacred  virtue.  It  is 
ours  to  make  fruitful  these  divine  powers,  and  to 
bring  forth  little  by  little,  not  the  submission  of 
the  crown  to  the  tiara,  but,  what  is  very  different, 
the  obedience  of  crowns  to  the  conscience,  which  is 
the  voice  of  God,  and  to  the  Gospel,  which  is  the 
voice  of  Christ. 

Above  the  problem  of  the  connection  between 
Church  and  State,  between  the  hierarchy  with  its 
authority  held  from  Christ  and  the  changing 
forms  of  human  society,  going  from  the  centuries  of 


FAITH    AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  11 

feudal  monarchy  to  those  of  absolute  monarchy, 
from  an  aristocratic  government  to  a  republic,  and 
from  a  liberal  repubhc  to  a  democratic  one — above 
this  problem,  there  is  one  of  still  greater  depth 
and  importance  :  the  problem  of  the  connection 
between  Reason  and  Faith — Faith,  immovable  in  its 
dogma,  Hke  the  hierarchy  which  is  its  guardian  ; 
Eeason,  varying  according  to  those  systems  which 
attract  it,  or  that  opinion  by  which  it  is  swayed. 

Perfect  harmony  between  Faith  and  Eeason  is 
a  necessity  for  every  intelligent  believer.  A  man 
who  believes  with  his  mind  wants  to  know  tchat  he 
believes,  and  ichy  he  believes.  Faith  does  not  pre- 
suppose the  abdication  of  Eeason  ;  on  the  contrary, 
she  is  its  divine  completion,  and,  by  accepting  her 
testimony,  man,  aggrandized,  raises  himself  to  God, 
of  whom  he  previously  knew  but  the  inaccessible 
mystery.  Eeason  tells  him  that  above  natural 
humanity  is  God;  Faith  teaches  him  that  which 
this  ineffable  God  has  been  pleased  to  reveal  con- 
cerning Himself. 

From  the  days  of  Christ  down  to  our  own  time 
the  problem  of  harmony  between  Eeason  and  Faith 
has  been  put  and  solved  in  a  thousand  ways,  and 
from  many  different  points  of  view,  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  age. 

John  and  Paul  are  the  first  who,  in  the  Christian 
era,  have  by  divine  inspiration  put  forward  the 
basis  of  equilibrium  between  these  two  forces  : 
Eeason,  whose  domain  is  nature,  man,  and — if  one 
might  say  so — the  exterior  of  God  ;  and  Faith, 
whose   domain   is    the   profundity,    the    intimate 


12  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

nature,  of  God.  The  ancient  Fathers  and  many 
learned  and  pious  divines  have  each  and  all,  in 
their  centuries  and  in  their  turn,  consecrated  all 
their  labour  and  all  their  genius  to  the  solution 
of  this  great  problem — the  harmonious  relation 
between  Eeason  and  Faith.  Their  gigantic  labom^s 
are  in  connection  with  each  other.  All  these  pre- 
destined labourers,  separated  by  centuries,  sent 
forth  by  the  same  Spirit,  continue  without  ever 
turning  aside  their  great  work  of  enlightenment. 
They  bring  peace  to  the  world  by  enlightening  it. 
When  by  their  influence  human  reason  is  brought 
back  to  God  in  Faith,  all  is  at  peace.  If  the  war 
of  ideas  engenders  the  war  of  men,  so  also  does  the 
unity  of  doctrines  prepare  the  peace  of  nations. 
Now,  the  greatest  harmony  of  doctrine  is  that  which 
is  established  between  Eeason  and  Faith. 

This  is  why  the  solution  of  this  problem  is  so 
necessary  :  this  once  solved,  the  others  are  on  the 
eve  of  being  so  ;  and  if  the  others  should  appear  to 
be  settled,  their  solution  would  be  ineffectual  and 
useless  if  Faith  and  Eeason  continued  to  oppose 
each  other,  to  misunderstand  each  other,  and  to 
light  up  an  implacable  war  between  those  who 
believe  and  those  who  do  not  believe. 

Under  what  form  is  the  redoubtable  and  supreme 
question  of  the  relation  between  Eeason  and  Faith 
presented  to  us  in  this  nineteenth  century  ?  Under 
two  forms  :  at  the  opening  of  the  century  it  took  a 
rationalistic  and  metaphysical  one  ;  towards  the 
end  a  scientific,  experimental  one. 

Eminent  philosophers,  the  masters  of  French 


FAITH    AND    EXPEBIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  13 

spiritualism,  vanquishers  of  the  sensual  and 
material  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth  century,  of 
Condillac,  Helvetius,  Holbach,  and  La  Mettrie — 
Cousin  and  Jouffroy,  to  name  only  the  greatest — 
have  always  paused  before  Faith.  Instead  of  rising 
to  her  height,  they  have  drawn  back  in  fear,  look- 
ing upon  her  as  a  sublime  mysticism — subhme,  it  is 
true,  but  still  human — and  persuaded  that  all  her 
dogmas  could  be  proved  in  a  way  by  Eeason,  and 
by  her  given  a  rational  meaning. 

As  a  basis,  rationalistic  Spiritualism  denied  all 
revelation,  refused  to  give  Christ  the  title  of  God, 
and  only  saw  in  the  Trinity  a  human  conception  of 
the  Infinite.  The  Church — the  hierarchy — there- 
fore, could  but  be  a  human  institution,  venerable 
doubtless  by  its  Founder,  by  its  antiquity,  and,  above 
all,  by  the  pure  morality  which  it  taught.  Certainly 
the  conflict  under  this  aspect  becomes  serious  ;  it 
concerns  the  life  or  the  death  of  Faith,  and  of  the 
Church  as  a  divine  institution. 

Has  Eevelation  a  real  existence  ?  Have  we 
heard  God's  voice  ?  Is  Christ  God  or  man  ?  Is  the 
Church  a  supernatural  work  ?  These  are  the  ques- 
tions raised  by  rationalism.  Believers  should 
answer  them  triumphantly;  and  since  the  great 
rationalistic  attacks  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
thoughtful  men  of  the  Christian  Faith  have  often 
and  authoritatively  replied. 

One  cannot  on  these  points  accumulate  too  much 
light  ;  and  even  after  the  learned  treatises  of  both 
Catholic  and  Protestant  theologians,  of  Pascal,  of 
Bergier,  of  Du  Perron,  of  Euler,  of  Jacques  Abbadie, 


14  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

of  Paley,  and  of  countless  others,  there  remains 
still  a  rich  harvest  in  that  new  field  which  the 
eighteenth  century  has  not  explored. 

We  appeal  to  all  those  who  have  at  heart  the 
confirmation  and  the  glory  of  the  Christian  Faith. 
Without  doubt  the  problem  of  Faith  is  not  a 
geometrical  theorem,  which,  demonstrated  by 
a  +  h,  must  convince  the  most  stubborn  mind  ;  a 
moral  element  interposes,  in  the  total  adherence 
of  Keason  to  revealed  truth,  which  is  free  will,  and 
a  gift  of  God.  But  also  there  must  be  enough 
light,  and  it  would  be  a  want  of  respect  towards 
God  and  our  reason,  to  accept  the  Divine  word 
without  its  ha.ving  been  first  proved  beyond  all  doubt 
that  He  who  speaks  is  God.  I  cannot,  perhaps, 
understand  all  that  He  says — is  this  surprising, 
since  He  is  my  Master  ? — but  I  will  know  that  He 
is  God;  then,  what  more  rational  than  to  bow 
down  before  such  evidence  ?  If  the  object  of  my 
faith  could  be  demonstrated,  it  would  be  on  a  level 
with  my  reason  ;  and  this  alone  would  prove  its 
inconsequence.  But  I  prove  that  God  places  it 
before  me,  and  thus  Eeason,  by  submitting,  does 
not  degrade  herself  ;  on  the  contrary,  she  becomes 
greater,  she  rises  out  of  herself,  and,  guided  by 
God,  enters  blindfold  into  the  divine  command. 

Therein  lies  the  whole  secret  of  reconciling 
Pteason  and  Faith  in  the  conflict  which  has  over- 
turned and  disorganized  all  minds  during  the  first 
half  of  this  century,  and  of  which  the  black  clouds, 
as  on  the  evening  of  a  furious  battle,  still  obscure 
our  sky. 


FAITH    AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  15 

This  darkness  must  be  dispersed. 

As  God,  according  to  Faith,  has  appeared  to 
humanity.  His  traces  shoukl  be  visible  ;  and  as 
the  ofÊce  of  history  is  to  bring  to  light  all  the 
phenomena  of  which  humanity  has  been  witness,  it 
is  fit  that  this  science  should  in  its  advancement 
render  a  new  and  more  solemn  testimony  to  God, 
Eevealed  and  Incarnate. 

Theology  has  superabundantly  established  the 
expedience,  the  possibility,  and  the  necessity  of 
Divine  Eevelation  ;  it  is  time  for  her  to  insist  upon 
the  fact.  Historical  Science  now  embraces  every 
race  ;  she  has  exhumed  past  ages  as  though  they 
were  contemporaries  that  had  only  yesterday  been 
buried  and  disappeared.  All  these  resuscitated 
epochs  bear  witness  of  God.  India,  China,  Egypt, 
and  the  ancient  races  of  America  bear  the  imprint 
of  His  footstep  through  all  ages  and  nations. 

Let  them,  then,  be  made  to  speak,  and  may 
enlightened  opinion  in  this  cause  j)ronounce  a 
decisive  verdict  from  its  own  conscience. 

The  conflict  between  contemporary  Eeason  and 
Faith  was  not  prolonged  under  that  form  beyond 
the  first  half  of  this  century.  It  is  a  strange 
thing,  and  one  which  will  show  to  what  oscil- 
lations that  inconstant  sea  called  public  opinion 
is  condemned.  Whilst  spiritualistic  rationalism 
reigned  in  France,  and  proclaimed  with  eloquence, 
if  not  with  originality,  those  dogmas  which  are 
the  honour  of  philosophy — the  existence  of  God, 
providence,   the   spirituality  of  the   soul,   its  im- 


16  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

mortality,  and  free  will  and  a  future  life  ;— while, 
proud  of  following  Plato,  Augustine,  and  Descartes, 
by  recalling  the  most  flourishing  ages  of  Greece, 
of  Eome,  and  of  the  great  century,  rationalism 
opposed  all  revealed  doctrine,  and  refused  to  admit 
a  revealed  God,  a  Christ,  or  a  Church  divinely 
appointed — gradually  a  change  in  opinion  began  to 
show  itself. 

By  the  side  of  philosophers  absorbed  in  meta- 
physics appear  philosophers  eager  for  experience  : 
the  former,  dazzled  by  the  greatness  of  the  soul, 
speak  only  of  psychology  ;  the  latter,  more  realistic, 
fascinated  by  matter,  speak  of  physiology.  A  new 
kind  of  materialism  has  risen  up  against  the 
spiritualism  of  past  ages.  To  metaphysical  Science, 
which  only  concerns  itself  about  the  invisible,  is 
opposed  experimental  Science,  which  concerns  itself 
with  the  visible,  with  that  which  can  be  seen, 
weighed,  and  measured,  and  which  limits  itself  to 
phenomena.  And,  just  as  rationalistic  Spiritualism 
declared  itself  an  enemy  to  Faith  and  revelation, 
experimentalism  proclaims  itself  the  determined 
enemy  of  metaphysical  spiritualism. 

Infatuated  rationalists  said.  We  will  have  no 
revelation  above  our  reason  ;  the  followers  of  ex- 
perimentalism cry.  There  is  no  metaphysic  beyond 
our  experience. 

The  brilliant  reign  of  metaphysics  has  soon 
declined  ;  the  pulpits  are  silent,  the  masters  have 
disappeared  one  by  one,  the  books  which  per- 
petuated in  a  style  worthy  of  a  great  age  the  ideas 
of  antiquity  are  forgotten  :  decidedly  opinion  has 
changed. 


FAITH   AND    EXPEBIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  17 

Instead  of  analyzing  the  facts  of  the  conscience, 
we  analyze  the  facts  of  nature  ;  instead  of  studying 
the  soul,  we  study  the  body;  spirit  is  neglected, 
and  matter  prevails. 

We  who  are  of  this  generation  have  been  witness 
of  this  singular  revolution.  We  have  seen  the 
heavens  veil  themselves,  and  that  youth  which 
applauded  enthusiastically  the  noble  titles  of  a  free 
and  spiritual  soul,  has  given  place  to  a  positive 
generation  which  weighs  everything  and  applauds 
nothing — I  am  wrong,  it  applauds  matter.  Ab- 
sorbed by  this,  its  soul  contracts,  and,  while 
weighing  the  visible,  loses  all  sense  of  the  ideal 
or  the  infinite. 

There  is  in  this  phenomenon  something  to  dis- 
quiet the  observer.  Those  who  look  beyond  and 
foresee  the  future  are  terrified  to  see  the  wave  of 
positivism  rise. 

It  is  not  by  turning  over  the  earth  that  man  will 
find  his  perfection  ;  it  is  by  endeavouring  to  raise 
himself  up  to  God.  The  earth  !  Man  is  greater 
than  it  ;  and  since  what  date  has  any  one  perfected 
himself  by  contact  with  that  which  is  inferior? 
I  fear  to  see  minds  thus  absorbed  in  the  visible  ; 
all  that  is  seen  is  temporal,  fleeting,  miserable  ; 
that  which  is  not  seen  is  eternal. 

The  present  generation,  I  fear,  can  but  deteriorate. 
Speak  to  it  of  that  it  cannot  touch,  it  smiles  ; 
speak  to  it  of  God  and  it  turns  away.  But  what, 
indeed,  remains  to  man  when  he  is  limited  to 
matter,  and  what  is  he  worth  when  he  no  longer 
believes  himself  the  son  of  God  ? 


18  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

He  turns  to  animalism. 

And  then  you  see  him  absorbed  in  the  endeavour 
to  bring  himself  to  the  level  of  the  mammalia  of 
which  he  is  the  companion,  and  among  whom  he 
seeks  for  ancestors.  He  applies  to  this  work  all 
his  labour  and  his  science.  Matter  is  everything 
with  him.  The  animal  is  a  second  self.  Occa- 
sionally he  yields  him  the  palm,  and  while  study- 
ing the  bees,  the  ants,  the  beavers,  he  asks  himself 
in  what  respect  man  surpasses  his  illustrious 
congenitors,  from  whom  he  may  well  ask  for 
lessons. 

But  human  nature  has  its  laws.  The  great  type 
of  being  has  not  been  abandoned  to  the  caprice  of 
foolish  creatures.  God,  who  made  all,  does  not  will 
that  man  can  at  his  pleasure  upset  everything  and 
undo  himself.  Earth  cannot  long  contain  him  ; 
matter  fascinates  him  but  for  an  hour.  He  ex- 
periences a  salutary  reaction,  and  with  the  same 
energy  with  which  he  searched  once  into  the 
domain  of  experience,  he  now  explores  the  depths 
of  the  human  conscience  and  the  laws  of  humanity, 
and  listens  to  the  voice  of  God  speaking  to  him 
from  on  high. 

The  type  does  not  belie  itself.  Seek  to  violate 
it,  within  two  or  three  generations  it  reappears. 
Then  who  will  dare  to  say  that  the  highest  type, 
man,  does  not  contain  all  together  :  the  earth, 
since  he  was  formed  from  it  ;  spirit,  since  he  is 
intelligent  and  free  ;  the  infinite,  since  nothing 
created  can  satisfy  him  ? 

Man  may  strive  his  utmost,   matter,   however 


FAITH   AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  19 

learnedly  treated,  cannot  long  prevail  within  him 
against  his  spirit  and  against  God. 

Meanwhile  the  struggle  is  a  hot  one,  and  for 
more  than  twenty  years  we  have  witnessed  a 
conflict  of  a  new  kind  between  Eeason  and  Faith. 
This  conflict,  for  all  who  think,  is  the  dominant 
fact  of  our  age. 

So  long  as  it  lasts  the  minds  that  it  has  shaken 
cannot  regain  their  balance.  We  see  them  taking 
refuge  in  a  sentimental  mysticism,  or  wrapping 
themselves  in  a  narrow  positivism,  or  in  mate- 
rialism, or  sleeping — one  may  say  killing  them- 
selves— in  scepticism.  Those  who  have  at  heart 
the  development  of  the  mind,  those  who  would 
by  no  means  wish  to  lessen  humanity,  those  who 
seek  to  put  into  harmony — in  that  nature  in 
which  all  that  is  seems  to  be  united, — matter, 
mind,  and  God — can  these  stand  by  and  see  per- 
petuated, to  the  detriment  of  our  country,  our 
civilization,  and  our  faith,  the  conflict  which 
tortures  this  sick  generation? 

Hostilities  are  on  both  sides  diflicult  to  appease. 
The  least  blunder  may  kindle  the  war,  and  peace 
often  requires  both  genius  and  virtue. 

Peace  is  urgently  needed. 

If  one  should  perish,  even,  beneath  the  labour 
it  demands,  no  hesitation  is  possible  ;  we  cannot 
purchase  it  at  too  high  a  price.  The  world  fights 
in  the  name  of  experimental  Science,  and  in  the 
name  of  Faith.  We  do  not  wish  a  truce  ;  we  seek 
for  a  lasting  peace. 


20  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

Is  it  possible  ? 

Let  us  first  seek  to  know  the  two  sides  ;  we  shall 
find  out  afterwards,  perhaps,  the  secret  of  pacifying 
them. 

Faith,  for  well-nigh  twenty  centuries,  has  ruled 
the  world,  repeating  by  the  mouth  of  her  ministers, 
commissioned  by  Christ,  the  same  creed,  making 
every  intelligence  read  in  the  same  inspired  Book 
the  same  eternal  dogmas. 

Before  her  *  to-day,  scientific  reason  haughtily 
opposes  itself. 

I  name  thus  that  reason  which  by  observation 
and  experience  has  studied  nature,  has  noted  the 
connection  of  phenomena,  the  conditions  of  life 
and  thought  ;  that  reason  which  knows  that  worlds 
are  born,  grow,  and  die;  that  reason  which  has 
read  in  the  past  the  history  of  the  earth,  and 
which  foresees  its  dark  future  and  its  death. 

Last  outcome  of  the  culture  and  development 
of  man,  experimental  Science  believes  itself  the 
very  highest  of  all  powers.  Like  the  so-called 
"  self-made  man,"  it  disdains  all  that  is  not  itself. 
Not  content  with  disdaining  metaphysics  and 
religion,  it  dares  to  suppress  them  both,  as  in- 
capable of  leading  us  to  the  truth. 

Nothing  is  true,  says  positive  Science  superbly, 
but  that  which  is  subject  to  the  control  of  experi- 
ence :  but  neither  the  object  of  metaphysics  nor  the 
object  of  religion  can  be  so  controlled;  therefore 
neither  the  systems  of  religion  nor  the  systems  of 
metai3hysics  can  be  discussed.     Mere  questions  of 


FAITH   AND    EXPEEIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  21 

sentiment,  they  have  nothing  absolute,  nothing 
scientific.  Objections  may  be  raised  against  them, 
but  they  will  not  entertain  them. 

And  it  puts  forth  this  fatal  dilemma  :  no  middle 
course  ;  either  see  or  believe — either  see  by  science, 
or  believe  by  faith.  It  is  impossible,  without  incon- 
sequence or  weakness,  to  be  both  a  scientific  man 
and  a  believer.  Whoever  wishes  to  be  the  disciple 
of  science  must  say  adieu  for  ever  to  the  simple 
beliefs  of  religion.  The  laboratory  is  from  hence- 
forth his  temple  ;  the  phenomena  of  nature  his 
Bible  ;  the  struggle  for  existence  his  code  ;  matter 
his  God. 

In  the  presence  of  experimentalism,  become 
under  our  very  eyes  a  system  of  encroachment 
which  would  suppress  all  that  experience  does  not 
verify,  philosophy  and  religion  have  but  one 
attitude  possible.  There  is  one  harmony  to  seek 
for  ;  contradictions  can  never  agree  ;  war  is  declared. 
Either  positivism  or  Faith  and  metaphysics  must 
succumb. 

An  eminent  philosopher  fancied  he  had  dis- 
covered the  secret  of  agreement  between  Science 
exclusively  experimental,  and  metaphysics  ;  he  only 
succeeded  in  sacrificing  the  latter  by  taking  from 
the  conceptions  which  are  its  sublimity  all  objec- 
tive value.  If  by  the  opposition  of  Science  and 
Faith  is  meant  the  violent  opposition  of  positivism 
and  religion,  to  look  for  agreement  is  futile,  to 
hoj)e  for  harmony  useless. 

The  dilemma  is  forced  ujDon  us — either  to  see  or 
to  believe. 


22  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

But  without  here  pausing  to  refute  positivism, 
I  would  only  ask,  Is  it  identical  with  experi- 
mental Science  ?  If  it  was  i^roved  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  dogma  of  positivism,  Science  is  every- 
thing, it  must  be  proved  that  metaphysics  are 
useless  and  faith  an  illusion.  Has  Science  proved 
this  ?     No. 

Then  in  what  name  do  you  forbid  me  to  explore 
in  an  appropriate  manner  a  region  which  is  closed 
to  Science?  Science  has  one  domain,  Faith  has 
another  ;  by  what  right,  I  repeat,  does  positivism 
forbid  me  access  to  it  ?  Experimental  Science  can- 
not enter  it,  I  know  ;  but  is  experimenting  the  only 
end  of  man?  I  touch  the  phenomenon,  but  I 
conclude  the  invisible  cause  from  it  ;  I  see  the 
phenomenon,  but  I  affirm  strictly  and  logically, 
without  seeing  it,  the  cause.  Where  is  the  con- 
tradiction ?  Why  should  Science  take  exception  to 
matters  beyond  its  province.  In  the  same  way 
with  regard  to  Eeason  and  Faith.  Eeason  proves, 
Faith  accepts,  a  divine  testimony.  Where  is  the 
opposition?  An  intelligent  being  and  capable  of 
knowing,  have  I  not  an  equal  right  to  demonstrate 
that  which  I  know,  and  to  accept  on  those  grounds 
the  testimony  of  a  mind  superior  to  myself? 
When  I  demonstrate  I  perform  an  act  of  logical 
reason  ;  when  I  bow  to  divine  testimony  I  perform 
both  an  act  of  logic,  as  I  bow  only  before  a  proof, 
and  an  act  of  faith,  as  I  accept  a  testimony. 
Where  is  the  contradiction  ? 

Experience  has  but  one  right  over  metaphysics, 
that  of  forbidding  them  to  suppose  causes  which  are 


FAITH    AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  23 

contradicted  by  the  phenomena  ;  and  metaphysics 
has  but  one  over  faith — that  is,  to  oblige  it  to  prove 
its  title,  and  never  to  bow  before  false  evidence. 
Science,  which  exacts  more,  oversteps  its  legitimate 
limits  ;  that  reason  which  would  go  further  belies 
itself.  The  divers  movements  of  experimental, 
logical,  and  religious  reason  are  not  at  war  ;  they 
follow  different  roads  and  different  levels  :  they 
compete,  but  cannot  contradict  each  other.  Posi- 
tivism may  affirm  to  the  contrary  ;  assertions  are 
easy  to  make,  let  it  essay  to  prove  them. 

Experimental  Science  has  not  been  monopolised 
by  positivism. 

Most  minds  have  understood  that  phenomena,  in 
spite  of  the  attraction  of  their  testimony,  the 
harmony  of  their  succession,  the  certainty  of  their 
connection,  do  not  satisfy  our  longing  to  hioiv. 
Positivism  may  think  what  it  likes,  its  doctrines 
will  not  prevent  human  intelligence  from  being 
what  it  is.  Now,  intelligence  is  so  constituted  that 
behind  the  Effect  it  looks  for  the  Cause,  and,  in  the 
multiplicity  of  phenomena,  the  Unity  ù-orn  which 
they  are  derived.  An  imperious  force,  which  it  can- 
not escape,  pushes  it  through  all  to  the  First  Cause, 
without  which  nothing  can  be  explained.  In  spite 
of  the  contempt,  the  abuse,  and  the  prophecies  of 
positivism,  metaphysics  remain  and  force  them- 
selves upon  our  minds.  Of  what  service  are  these 
metaphysics,  if  not  to  be  raised  by  reason  to  those 
causes  unattained  by  experience,  and  to  determine, 
with  a  certainty  in  no  way  inferior  to  that  of  experi- 


24  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

mental  Science,  the  First  Principle,  'the  Sovereign 
Law,  the  Supreme  End  of  being. 

Also,  in  this  century  so  in  love  with  positive 
Science,  in  this  generation  given  over  unrestrainedly 
to  the  worship  of  mathematics,  disdaining  all 
which  is  not  numbered,  or  weighed,  or  to  be 
touched,  the  greater  part  of  the  savants,  chemists 
or  physicians,  physiologists  or  astronomers,  an- 
thropologists or  therapeutists,  all  the  while  pro- 
testing with  the  positivists  their  scepticism  in 
metaphysics  and  their  sovereign  worship  of  exact 
and  experimental  sciences,  none  the  less  have  a 
system  of  metaphysics  of  their  own.  They  make 
one,  it  might  be  said  with  all  due  respect,  as 
Moliere's  hero  made  prose,  without  knowing  it. 

If  at  least  guarded  against  the  vertigo  of  Science, 
they  would  only  raise  a  correct  system  of  philo- 
sophy without  violating  the  first  laws  of  reason 
and  logic  ;  but,  absorbed  by  that  visible  universe 
of  which  they  study  the  innumerable  and  remark- 
able manifestations,  they  become  incapable  of 
raising  themselves  to  the  transcendent  Cause. 
They  vegetate  in  atheism  ;  the  grandeur  of  the 
work,  better  known  by  a  more  advanced  Science, 
makes  them  misconceive  the  Workman.  They 
glorify  nature,  and,  to  the  disregard  of  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  reason,  falsify  or  suppress 
God. 

As  they  admit  the  search  for  a  first  cause,  they 
ought  to  say,  "  The  universe,  as  proved  by  ex- 
perimental Science,  is  on  the  system  of  a  progressive 
evolution,  from  brute  matter  up  to  thought  itself. 


FAITH   AND    EXPEKIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  25 

Who  produces  this  OTolution  ?  "  Logically,  and 
according  to  the  principle  of  causality,  they  should 
reply.  An  intelUgent  cause,  transcending  the  uni- 
verse, and  Infinite.  Intelligent;  for  if  it  had  no 
power  of  thought,  how  would  thought  have  existed  ? 
Transcendent — in  other  words,  exceeding  and  con- 
taining the  world  it  has  produced,  as,  if  it  did  not 
exceed,  how  could  it  contain,  and  if  it  could  not 
contain,  how  could  it  produce  the  world  ?  Infinite  ; 
for  Infinitude  alone  can  explain  an  indefinite  evolu- 
tion such  as  is  shown  in  human  thought. 

Instead  of  resolving  in  this  way  the  problem  of 
the  First  Cause,  which  is  the  central  point  of  all 
metaphysics,  the  majority  of  savants  fall  into  two 
capital  errors. 

Some,  struck  with  the  prominent  part  played 
by  matter  in  all  phenomena,  seeing  that  thought, 
even,  is  never  without  a  material  substance,  ob- 
serving that  everything  begins  with  matter  ;  having 
sophistically  confounded  the  point  of  departure 
with  the  effective  principle,  and  the  conditions  of 
a  fact  with  its  cause — the  materialists  have  said, 
All  is  matter.  All  comes  from  matter;  in  it  all 
ends,  by  it  all  moves.  It  is  the  beginning,  the 
middle,  and  the  end.  The  spirit  (or  mind)  is  but 
a  word,  a  property  of  matter  ;  it  is  only  to  be 
conceived  on  these  conditions.  Eternal,  inde- 
structible, at  bottom  always  the  same,  matter  is 
the  only  substance  of  which  phenomena  of  all 
kinds  are  but  the  ephemeral  and  mobile  manifesta- 
tions. 


26  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

Others  of  greater  imagination,  less  fascinated  by 
matter,  captivated  more  by  a  vague  notion  of  force, 
which  defines  nothing  and  lends  itself  easily  to  all, 
incapable,  like  the  first,  of  raising  themselves  above 
the  universe  to  a  transcendent  Cause,  disliking  at  the 
same  time  to  make,  with  the  materialists,  matter 
the  cause  of  mind — the  pantheists,  to  call  them 
by  their  name,  have  imagined  the  universe  to  be 
a  single  being,  animated  by  one  force,  and  which 
goes  on  developing  itself  alone  from  nothing  up 
to  everything,  in  space  without  limit,  and  time 
without  end.     It  is  the  eternal  to  he. 

Materialism  sacrifices  the  first  principle  of  reason 
by  making  matter  the  cause  of  thought  ;  naturalistic 
pantheism  suppresses  it,  by  affirming  that  the  pro- 
gressive universe  makes  itself.' 

Such  is,  in  a  few  words,  the  state  of  public 
reason.  Scepticism,  positivism,  materialism,  pan- 
theism, atheism — these  different  systems  weigh 
down  experimental  Science  under  a  disastrous 
yoke,  and  must  be  hailed  as  the  first  cause  of 
this  fierce  conflict  between  Eeason  and  Faith. 

The  first  work  of  whoever  wishes  to  reconcile 
them  should  be  to  distinguish,  at  the  outset,  ex- 
perimental Science  from  those  philosophic  doctrines 
which  have  more  or  less  perverted  it,  and  which, 
by  false  interpretations,  have  put  it  in  antagonism 
with  Faith. 

We  have  attempted  this  preliminary  labour.  The 
sermons  we  have  published  under  the  significant 


FAITH   AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  27 

title  of  "  Science  without  God,"  have  for  their  only 
object  the  exposure  and  summary  refutation  of 
those  systems  which,  explicitly  or  not,  pretend  to 
confiscate  experimental  Science  to  their  exclusive 
profit,  and  to  make  it  an  irreconcilable  enemy 
to  all  religion,  and  a  servant  of  atheism  and 
materialism.  And  though  one  may  be  little  able 
to  cast  aside  preconceived  ideas,  and  be  re-in- 
structed on  the  nature  of  positive  Science,  it  is 
not  so  difficult  to  clear  Science,  and  to  free  her 
from  all  bondage. 

The  reader  will  judge  if  we  have  succeeded. 

Materialism  and  pantheism,  no  less  than  posi- 
tivism, have  nothing  in  common  with  experimental 
Science. 

They  are  both  metaphysical  systems,  ways  of 
replying  to  that  problem  of  a  First  Cause  which 
torments  every  mind,  and  on  which  positivism 
in  vain  seeks  to  impose  silence.  On  the  other 
hand,  experimental  Science  is  the  direct  and  sensible 
knowledge  of  phenomena  and  their  experimental 
conditions — no  matter  what  may  be  the  idea  held 
concerning  the  Cause  from  which  they  are  derived. 

For  those  who  confound  by  prejudice,  like 
Doctors  Buchner  and  Haeckel,  Science  with  mate- 
rialism, the  antagonism  between  Faith  and  Science 
is  absolute.  To  wish  to  harmonize  them  is  to  wish 
an  impossibility  ;  between  materialism  which 
denies  the  soul,  pantheism  which  denies  God, 
and  faith  which  afûrms  both  God  and  the  soul, 
all  compromise  is  absurd.    But  upon  what  grounds 


28  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

can  the  partisans  of  atheistic  Science  go,  in  order 
to  confound  experimental  Science  with  materialism 
and  pantheism  ?  Such  confusion  is  arbitrary, 
illogical,  and  impious.  And  yet,  is  it  credible 
that  minds  otherwise  farsighted  cannot  see  that 
experimental  Science  is  the  same  to  the  atheist 
and  to  the  believer,  to  the  materialist  and  the 
spiritualist,  to  the  positivist  and  to  the  pantheist  ? 
Experimental  Science  does  not  change  with  the 
metaphysical  doctrines  of  those  who  cultivate  it  ; 
therefore  it  is  distinct  from  them.  The  argument 
is  unanswerable.  I  content  myself  with  it  for  the 
time  being;  and  I  beg  all  those  scientific  men 
who  pose  as  materialists,  pantheists,  or  atheists, 
to  be  kind  enough  to  show  me  in  what  respect 
experimental  Science  gives  them  the  least  cause 
for  so  doing. 

The  discourses  that  we  here  publish  prove,  on 
the  contrary,  how  Science,  interpreted  by  a  reason 
which  respects  its  own  laws,  leads  all  earnest  minds 
to  God,  and  how,  in  order  to  force  Science  into 
giving  evidence  in  favour  of  materialism  or  atheism, 
reason  becomes  unjust  to  herself,  commits  as  it 
were  suicide,  treads  under  her  feet  all  logic,  and 
surrenders  herself  to  the  grossest  sophisms. 

It  is  time  to  publish  before  the  world  these 
capital  offences  against  reason  daily  committed  by 
men  whose  science  is  incontestable,  and  who  for 
that  reason  exercise  a  real  influence  over  the  public 
mind.  "We  must  not  suffer  their  scientific  value  to 
blind  us  to  their  bad  philosophy,  nor  allow  them  to 
become,  by  reason   of  that  science,  professors  of 


FAITH    AND    EXPEKIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  29 

atheism  and  materialism.  We  are  ready  to  do 
every  one  justice,  but  we  are  also  determined  to 
unmask  these  false  pretences.  We  ask  no  better 
than  to  salute  in  the  man  of  science  the  complete 
master  :  is  it  our  fault  if  experience  has  absorbed 
the  mind,  and  if  the  great  faculties  of  reason  have 
become  deadened  ?  The  human  mind  is  both 
earthly  and  divine.  The  earthly  part  is  magnificent  : 
is  it  our  fault  if  the  divine  has  disappeared  ?  May 
it  please  God  that  they  give  back  to  this  generation 
the  wings  they  have  shorn  from  it,  and  that  we 
may  see  once  more  revive  intellects  of  height,  of 
breadth,  and  of  depth  suf&cient  acutely  to  discern 
the  phenomena  of  the  earth,  thoughtfully  to  sound 
the  most  secret  depths  of  the  soul,  and  open  to 
all  that  is  truth,  to  receive  the  revelations  of 
Faith  ? 

Our  dearest  ambition  is  to  work  for  this  end. 
We  believe  ourselves  to  be  serving  this  great  cause 
by  breaking  the  tyranny  which  to-day  has  made 
Science  into  a  mere  slave.  I  plead  here  for  liberty. 
Science  is  captive  :  let  her  be  delivered  !  She 
stifles  under  the  weight  of  a  dogmatism  without 
logic  or  greatness  :  let  her  be  suffered  to  breathe. 

To  make  free  is  to  make  sound.  Let  us,  then, 
free  Science. 

Truly  this  peaceful  crusade  is  worth  more  than 
the  others. 

If  the  Holy  Land,  seven  centuries  ago,  was  in  the 
power  of  the  sons  of  Mahomet,  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
at  least  was  free,  and  ran  in  the  veins  of  twenty 
new  races.     Experimental  Science  is  part   of  the 


30  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

Word  of  God.  This  Word  is  captive  in  a  sepulchre 
guarded  by  the  false  systems  of  a  philosophy  with- 
out God.  Let  us  break  open  this  sepulchre  of 
captivity  ;  open  the  crusade  in  favour  of  the  light- 
giving  captive  ;  and  oppose  to  a  fettered  Science 
a  free  Science,  which  has  nothing  to  fear  from 
Faith,  any  more  than  Faith  has  to  fear  from  her. 

Given  its  independence,  does  experimental  Science 
remain  in  conflict  with  Faith  ?  To  believe  certain 
scientific  men,  such  conflict  is  unavoidable. 

I  admit  that  I  cannot  comprehend  such  an 
opinion,  and  before  showing  the  falseness  of  the 
grounds  upon  which  it  is  founded,  I  wish  to  prove 
that  between  Science  freed  from  false  systems,  and 
metaphysical  faith,  separated  from  all  human  alloy, 
the  conflict  cannot  exist. 

After  all,  what  is  antagonism  ?  The  encounter 
of  two  forces  advancing  on  the  same  ground  in 
opposite  directions.  Two  forces  are  not  on  the 
same  ground,  and  their  encounter,  and  conse- 
quently their  shock,  is  rendered  impossible.  They 
are  on  the  same  ground,  but,  instead  of  being  in 
opposition,  they  are  parallel  or  divergent  ;  their 
encounter  and  shock  is  again  impossible.  Let  ex- 
perimental Science  and  Faith  represent  two  forces, 
and  for  them  to  be  in  conflict  with  each  other  it  is 
necessary  that  they  should  operate  in  different 
directions  on  the  same  given  ground. 

If  experimental  Science  and  Faith  are  studied 
from  this  point  of  view,  they  will  be  found  to  differ 
in  their  object  or  ground,  in  their  method  or  direc- 
tion,  and  consequently  in  their  aim. 


FAITH   AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  31 

The  abject  of  experimental  Science  is  the  visible 

and  material  phenomenon — that  which  is  evident  to 

the  senses,  and  can  be  seen,  touched,  weighed,  and 

measm-ed.     She  seeks  for  the  order  of  phenomena, 

and  determines  anterior  phenomena  according  to 

those    conditions    which    govern    the    subsequent 

phenomena.     Her  method    is  bringing  intelligence 

to  bear  upon  the  facts  of  nature  by  experience  and 

observation.       Nothing  in  Science  is  certain  but 

what  has  been  experienced  and  observed.     Facts 

alone  are  her  concern.     Hypothesis  has  no  definite 

value   until  it  has  been  directly  verified.      Until 

then   it   is   merely  provisional;   its  justness   and 

stability  are  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  facts 

it  serves  to  explain.      Theories  depend  upon  the 

hypothesis  upon  which  they  are  founded.    The  true 

savant  is  ever  ready  to  abandon  his  theories  when 

facts  contradict  them,  and  to  reject  an  hypothesis 

whenever  a  new  fact  appears  in  opposition  to  it. 

Hypotheses  are  mere  guesses  of  man's  mind,  often 

deceitful,  like  him,  and  like  him  always  diffident. 

Theories  represent  human  wisdom,  often  at  fault, 

always  in  some  direction  insufiicient  ;  facts  alone 

are  immutable,  for  they  express  the  will  and  the 

thought  of  God,  who  neither  lies  nor  changes. 

The  triumph  of  experimental  genius  is  to  seize 
the  limited  connection  between  certain  facts,  and 
to  group  them  according  to  truth.  The  higher  the 
genius,  the  more  numerous  the  facts  to  which  its 
vast  synthesis  will  apply  ;  but,  however  strong  its 
wing,  it  is  soon  tired,  and  cannot  attain  the  in- 
accessible height  from  whence  in  time  and  space 


32  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

the  universality  of  phenomena  spreads  before  its 
eyes. 

Know  and  do — these  words  sum  up  the  aim  and 
end  of  Science.  Let  us  understand  them.  Know 
what  ?  Do  what  ?  Know  the  order  of  sensible 
phenomena  and  the  condition  by  which  they  are 
manifested  and  determined,  and  command  matter. 
Science  confers  on  man  the  mastership  of  the 
universe;  he  becomes  through  her  the  lieutenant 
of  God.  Like  Him  he  can  say,  Let  there  be  light, 
and  there  is  light  ;  Let  there  be  life,  and  there  is 
life.  God  has  but  to  will  and  to  command,  and 
nature  obeys  Him.  Man  has  but  to  put  the  con- 
ditions established  by  God,  and  matter  obeys  him. 

From  this  point  of  view  who  would  not  be 
fascinated  by  the  greatness  and  the  power  of 
Science  ?  Is  it  nothing  to  subdue  matter,  to 
enchain  it,  to  hold  thunder  and  fire  in  your  hand, 
to  annihilate  and  transform  a  world  at  your  will  ? 
Man  is  none  the  less  great  although  fixed  upon 
this  narrow  globe,  where  he  is  held  by  a  force 
which  only  death  can  break,  but,  king  of  the  earth, 
proves  by  this  very  science  that  the  whole  universe 
is  his  domain. 

The  object,  the  method,  and  the  aim  of  Science 
thus  determined,  it  will  be  easy  to  see  whether  its 
conflict  with  Faith  is  possible. 

What  is  the  object  of  Faith  ?  The  phenomenon  ? 
No.  The  First  Principle,  the  Absolute  Cause, 
God.  The  phenomenon  is  on  an  inferior  ground, 
for   every  principle  and  cause  is  superior  to  the 


FAITH   AND   EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  33 

phenomena  which  it  produces.  The  phenomenon 
is  contained  hij  them  ;  it  does  not  contain  them. 

Thus  God  can  be  observed  in  two  ways  :  as 
He  is  manifested  by  the  phenomena  of  the  universe 
of  nature  and  humanity,  and  as  He  surpasses 
everything  visible  ;  in  a  word,  in  His  transcendence 
and  His  very  Being.  From  this  point  of  view 
is  He  the  precise  object  of  Faith. 

What  is  God  in  Himself?  God  alone  knows. 
What  is  His  will  concerning  His  creation?  God 
alone  knows.  Has  He  revealed  it  to  man  ?  This 
all  intelligent  Christians  must  prove  rationally  by 
irrefutable  signs. 

The  mystery  of  the  inner  life  of  God,  the  imme- 
diate connection  of  the  divine  and  human  nature 
in  Christ,  the  direct  and  voluntary  connection  of 
human  nature  with  the  divine  essence  by  the  inter- 
mediation of  Christ — this  is  in  three  words  the 
ohject  of  Faith,  of  which  the  divine  Word  contains 
the  only  revelation.  In  what  respect,  may  I  ask, 
do  the  phenomena  of  nature  and  humanity  which 
engross  the  attention  of  Science,  place  themselves 
in  opposition  to  divine  faith  ?  One  speaks  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  universe,  the  other  of  the  tran- 
scendent Principle  of  the  universe.  The  objects 
are  distinct,  the  grounds  superposed;  therefore 
the  forces  moving  on  these  superposed  grounds 
cannot  encounter  each  other. 

The  same  truth  is  evident  when  the  method  of 
Faith  is  inquired  into. 

The  whole  process  of  Faith  consists  in  this  : 
to  adhere  to  the  testimony  of  God,  who  is  never 

D 


34  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

deceived,  as  He  is  infinitely  wise,  and  who  never 
deceives,  as  He  is  goodness  and  uprightness  itself. 
Science  interrogates  nature  :  nature  replies  by  facts. 
Faith  interrogates  God  :  God  answers  by  revealing 
what  He  is.  He  testifies  His  presence  by  signs 
not  contained  in  nature,  as  they  are  departures 
from  its  laws,  and  prove  God's  intervention,  as 
God  alone  could  have  been  the  cause. 

I  have  described  miracle  and  prophecy. 

Christ  rose  from  the  dead — here  is  a  miracle. 
Christ  predicted  His  resurrection — here  is  a  pro- 
phecy. The  miraculous  event  is  not  in  the  laws 
of  nature  ;  it  oversteps  them.  ProjDhecy  is  not 
the  law  of  humanity  ;  the  future  is  veiled  to  man. 
But  both  become  God,  who  is  the  Master  of  nature 
and  can  therefore  modify  it  ;  who  is  the  Eternal 
Present,  and  therefore  knows  the  Future. 

Between  the  method  of  Science  and  that  of  Faith 
where  is  the  conflict  ?  They  differ,  as  do  the 
objects  to  which  they  corres^^ond,  but  they  are 
no  more  opposed  than  the  two  domains  contradict 
each  other. 

There  remains  the  aim  or  end  of  Faith. 

What  is  it  ? 

To  conduct  humanity  to  its  ideal  perfection,  to 
its  absolute  end;  to  reunite  men  of  good  inclina- 
tions, by  the  intercession  of  Christ  the  revealer  and 
Saviour,  to  that  God  who  has  created  them,  who 
calls  them,  and  who  waits  for  them. 

See,  then,  the  difference  and  the  harmonious 
contrast  between  Science  and  Faith  :  one  is  terres- 
trial, the  other  celestial;  the  one  makes  us  look 


FAITH   AND    EXPEEIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  35 

on  the  earth  where  all  is  passing,  the  other  to 
heaven  where  there  is  rest  ;  one  is  limited  to  teach- 
ing us  the  phenomena  which  disappear  before 
our  eyes,  the  other  rises  to  the  inaccessible  Sub- 
stance which  never  changes  ;  one  gives  us  a  planet 
for  our  domain,  the  other  promises  us  the  kingdom 
of  God  ;  one  exalts  our  animality,  the  other  deifies 
us  by  enfranchisement  ;  one  leaves  us  in  the 
matter  from  which  we  were  formed,  the  other 
revives  us  by  the  Spirit  which  has  breathed  upon 
us  :  the  one  makes  us,  as  Claud  Bernard  said, 
the  foremen  of  nature  ;  the  other,  as  Saint  John 
said,  the  adopted  sons  of  God, 

Where  is  the  opposition  ?  Let  the  wise  ones 
tell  us.  I  see  in  these  two  destinies  but  a  har- 
monious contrast.  Science  and  Faith  do  not 
exclude  each  other,  any  more  than  does  the  earth, 
heaven  ;  or  matter,  mind.  These  things  should 
not  opi)ose  each  other,  but  become  united  ;  their 
accord  is  the  greatest  marvel  and  chef -cV œuvre  of 
creation. 

And  yet  the  conflict  exists.  Noisy  and  vindictive, 
it  fills  with  the  sound  of  its  hate  this  land,  this 
age,  and  the  civilized  world  ;  and  of  all  the  wars 
which  have  stirred  up  mankind  there  is  none  more 
obstinate.  I  would  be  the  last  to  deny  this  sad 
fact  ;  I  have  noticed  it  with  emotion,  even  in  these 
very  pages,  and  I  deplore  it.  But  I  simply  con- 
clude that,  without  doubt,  either  the  men  of  Science 
or  the  men  of  Faith,  perhaps  both,  are  in  the 
wrong,  and  that  their  warfare  is  impious  and 
absurd. 


36  SCIENCE   WITHOUT   GOD. 

The  colours  they  bear  were  meant  to  mingle 
their  folds,  not  to  destroy  each  other;  the  causes 
they  serve  should  not  oppose  or  crush  each  other, 
but  be  joined  together  and  triumph  by  their  union. 

History  is  full  of  these  saddening  facts — result 
of  the  ignorance,  narrow-mindedness,  prejudices, 
and  passions  of  men.  That  the  conflict  may  cease 
it  is  necessary  to  discover  the  culprits.  Where 
are  they  ?  To  which  side  do  they  belong  ?  They 
are  amongst  the  learned  and  amongst  the  believers. 
I  say  it  simply  and  frankly,  may  I  have  the  pardon 
of  both.  My  intention  is  not  either  to  slight  the 
servants  of  Science  nor  the  servants  of  Faith  ;  a 
devoted  and,  I  may  say,  passionate  friend  of  both 
Science  and  Faith,  my  only  aim  is,  by  studjâng 
the  causes  which  put  them  in  opposition,  to  serve 
and  fortify  both,  by  bringing  together  in  peace  and 
truth  those  men  who  master  the  earth,  and  those 
men  who  by  faith  would  conquer  heaven. 

The  first  and  greatest  wrong  committed  by  men 
of  Science  is  to  mix  up  metaphysical  doctrines  with 
Science,  and  cleverly  invest  the  one  with  the 
authority  of  the  other. 

It  would  be  easy  for  me  to  quote  names  in 
support  of  my  assertion,  and  to  show,  proof  in 
hand,  materialism — monism  as  the  modern  pan- 
theists call  it — inspiring  many  a  work  of  popular 
Science.  The  Germans  are  particularly  distin- 
guished in  this  confusion  ;  Buchner  and  Haeckel 
— the  one  an  apostle  of  extreme  monism,  and  the 
other  the  apologist  of  the  most  declared  materialism 
— are  the  most   salient  types   of  this  mania  for 


FAITH   AND   EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  37 

sheltering  under  the  cloak  of  an  "advanced 
Science"  doctrines  which  have  nothing  whatever 
in  common  with  it. 

They  enslave  and  falsify  Science,  and  do  not 
even  prove  the  theory  that  they  extol.  When  they 
have  affirmed  that  the  universe  is  in  course  of 
evolution — which  is  an  indisputable  scientific  fact 
— have  they  also  established  the  theory  that  this 
evolution  has  no  cause,  and  that,  therefore,  monism 
is  the  sole  new  conception  with  regard  to  the  origin 
of  being  authorized  by  Science?  Why,  then, 
these  gratuitous  assumptions  ?  They  can  only 
seduce  weak  minds  or  impress  the  young.  Not 
content  with  confiscating  to  their  profit  Science 
itself,  these  false  savants,  wrapped  up  in  their  own 
metaphysics,  pervert  the  reason  of  their  disciples, 
and  arouse  not  only  the  passions,  but,  worse  still, 
the  intellect,  against  that  faith  which,  without 
flinching,  preserves  the  ancient  and  healthy  doctrine 
of  a  God  transcending  the  universe,  the  cause,  law, 
and  end  of  its  progress. 

Such  conduct  is  perfidious.  It  can  only  commend 
itself  to  sectarians  ;  and  it  is  more  than  time  that 
we  should  see  rise  up  against  it  the  protest  of  every 
free  and  upright  soul,  and  of  every  disinterested 
man  of  Science. 

Another  fault  of  scientific  men  is,  on  the  one 
hand,  an  almost  total  ignorance  of  the  Faith  they 
attack;  on  the  other,  the  misconception  of  the 
elements  which  constitute  Science. 

For  to  know,  if  two  things  are  harmonious  or 


38  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

contradictory,  in  what  respect  they  agree  or  in 
what  they  are  opposed,  it  is  necessary  to  know 
both  with  exactitude,  and  in  no  way  to  confound 
their  various  elements.  Thus,  whoever  takes  as 
a  set  form  of  Faith  the  more  or  less  exact  in- 
terpretations of  it  given  by  men,  proves  by  that 
that  he  is  ignorant  of  its  very  essence  ;  and  who- 
ever presents  as  indisputable  facts  the  hypotheses 
or  theories  of  Science,  proves  by  that  that  he  is 
wanting  in  scientific  discernment. 

Faith,  be  it  known,  comprises  four  distinct 
elements  :  the  formula,  or  exact  enunciation  of 
the  truth  to  be  believed  ;  example  :  There  are 
three  persons  and  one  God.  The  interjDretation 
sanctioned  by  the  authority  and  decision  of  the 
Church  ;  example  :  Christ's  presence  in  the  Holy 
Eucharist.  The  interpretation  which,  without 
this  supreme  guarantee,  rests  upon  the  unchange- 
able truths  of  philosophy,  and  forms  the  great 
tradition  of  the  x^hilosophic  and  theological  teach- 
ing of  the  Doctors  ;  example  :  the  established 
principles  of  the  Incarnation.  Lastly,  the  in- 
terpretation resting  upon  contestable  philosophic 
opinions,  or  upon  an  incomjDlete  and  erroneous 
Science  ;  examjDle  :  the  scientific  explanation  of 
Genesis  by  the  Ptolemaic  system,  or  of  the  resur- 
rection by  the  physiology  of  Galen. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish 
in  Science,  facts,  hypotheses,  and  theories.  Facts 
well  proved  are  undeniable  ;  example  :  no  life 
without  organic  matter  placed  under  the  appropriate 
conditions  of  air,  heat,  and  moisture.     Hypotheses 


FAITH    AND   EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  39 

are  provisionary — uncertain  until  directly  verified  ; 
example  :  the  existence  of  an  imponderable  body, 
ether.  Theories  are  disputable  ;  example  :  light 
is  the  vibration  of  ether  under  the  solar  influence. 

These  principles  being  stated,  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  the  man  of  Science  who  is  ignorant  of  Faith, 
or  who  confounds  the  elements  of  his  Science,  may 
create  a  thousand  conflicts  ;  but  such  antagonisms 
are  vain  and  imaginary,  and  only  serve  to  prove 
one  thing — the  ignorance,  shallowness,  or  prejudice 
of  the  man  of  Science. 

For  a  conflict  to  exist  between  Science  and  Faith 
with  any  reason,  it  will  be  necessary  to  bring  for- 
ward one  legitimately  controllable  and  irrefutable 
scientific  fact,  which  contradicts  a  single  dogma 
or  interpretation  sanctioned  by  the  Church,  or  a 
single  rationally  certain  truth.  But  we  say  aloud. 
Such  a  fact  does  not  exist  ;  and  we  add  fearlessly. 
If  it  does,  show  it  us  ! 

All  the  contradictions  of  which  certain  men  of 
Science  have  made  so  much,  and  which  a  certain 
American  author  has  collected  under  the  title  of 
"The  Conflict  of  Science  and  Eeligion,"  merely  rest 
upon  ignorance  of  the  Faith,  or  the  confusion  of  the 
divers  elements  of  Science. 

They  say.  Faith  teaches  that  the  earth  is  the 
centre  of  the  universe,  and  man  the  centre  of  crea- 
tion ;  Science  has  proved  the  contrary  ;  hence  con- 
tradiction. I  reply.  Faith  does  not  teach  what  you 
say  it  does.  You  take  as  a  dogma  that  which  was 
at  one  time  an  interpretation  of  a  dogma,  accord- 
ing to  an  imperfect  astronomy  and  anthropology  ; 


40  SCIENCE   WITHOUT   GOD. 

hence  the  contradiction  is  hut  apparent.  They  say 
again,  Faith  teaches  that  the  world  is  governed 
by  the  providence  of  a  personal  God  ;  Science  has 
proved  the  contrary  ;  hence  contradiction.  I  reply, 
How  has  Science  proved  this  ?  She  shows  us  one 
invariable  order  in  all  phenomena,  but  has  she 
established  that  this  order  is  not  the  expression  of 
the  wisdom  and  the  will  of  a  personal  God,  and 
that  in  certain  cases  it  cannot  be  supplanted  by 
the  free  intervention  of  an  absolute  Force  ? 

A  Science  which  supported  such  a  theory  would 
not  be  true  ;  she  would  be  out  of  her  province  ;  she 
would  deceive.  Thus,  it  is  the  glory  of  Faith  to 
be  at  war  with  false  Science,  and  the  wrong  here  is 
on  the  side  of  the  savants,  who,  to  contradict  God, 
tread  underfoot  both  logic  and  reason. 

Voltaire  believed  himself  to  triumph  against 
Faith,  when,  in  the  name  of  the  then  prevalent 
theory  which  regarded  the  sun  as  the  sole  source  of 
light,  he  taxed  the  Bible  with  absurdity.  The  Bible 
teaches,  said  he,  that  light  was  created  before  the 
sun;  this  is  absurd,  as  it  has  been  demonstrated 
that  the  sun  produces  light.  Voltaire  confounded 
in  his  Science  Theory  and  Fact.  If  he  had  re- 
membered that  Theory  is  fallible,  he  would  have 
respected  what  he  too  lightly  ridiculed.  There  may 
be  scientific  theories  in  opposition  with  Faith  :  for 
a  believer  this  proves  their  falseness  ;  for  a  savant 
who  does  not  believe,  it  should  be  a  sign  to  make 
him  reflect  ;  and  if  he  is  wise  he  should  pause 
before  concluding  against  Faith,  unless  he  wishes 
to  imitate  the  simplicity  of  Voltaire. 


FAITH   AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  41 

These  examples  are  sufficient  to  demonstrate  the 
inanity,  the  bad  logic,  and  in  every  case  the  hidden 
cause,  of  these  conflicts  between  Science  and  Faith. 
We  could  enumerate  them  one  by  one  ;  all,  without 
exception,  rest  on  one  or  other  of  the  motives  we 
have  attempted  to  bring  to  light.  We  leave  this 
easy  task  to  the  reader  ;  he  knows  the  field  to  be 
reaped  from,  let  him  gather  his  own  harvest. 

If  the  learned,  more  or  less  hostile  to  Faith,  are 
the  principal  cause  of  the  strife  we  deplore,  those 
who  side  with  Faith,  who  defend  it,  if  not  with 
ability,  at  least  valiantly— the  believers,— let  us  not 
fear  to  say  it — are  not  entii-ely  without  reproach. 
There  would  be  both  blindness  and  disloyalty  in  the 
attempt  to  deny  it. 

We  are  not  of  those  who  practise  the  miserable 
maxim,  "  It's  true,  but  you  mustn't  say  it."  Dis- 
simulation has  never  served  but  to  lose  the  best 
of  causes;  if  it  ever  gained  one,  it  was  not  with 
honour. 

If  men  of  Science  live  often  in  a  systematic 
ignorance  of  the  teaching  of  Faith,  and  if  before 
combating  her  they  content  themselves  often  with 
a  merely  superficial  knowledge,  the  men  who  to-day 
profess  religious  Science  are  not  always  themselves 
sufficiently  instructed  in  natural  and  experimental 
Science. 

What!  they  will  say,  supposing  Faith  to  be 
exact,  can  one  make  it  a  grievance  that  those  men 
who  profess  divine  Science  should  ignore  terrestrial 
Science  ?     This  domain  is  unworthy  of  them  ;  it  is 


42  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

not  proper  that  minds  open  to  the  contemplation 
of  divine  mysteries  slionld  be  implicated  in  the 
profane  labour  of  the  study  of  created  things. 

To  rejDly  to  these  too  disdainful  doctors,  lost  in 
their  own  sublimity,  I  could  limit  myself  to  in- 
voking the  testimony — an  irrefutable  one,  this — of 
Thomas  Aquinas,  the  greatest  of  doctors  and  the 
most  complete  of  masters.  Let  them  open  the 
"  Summa  contra  Gentiles,"  and  let  them  learn 
in  the  school  of  this  genius,  whose  greatness  knew 
how  to  contain  and  harmonize  all  the  known 
truths  of  his  age,  in  what  manner  the  theologian 
should  study  nature,  and  how  it  can  be  of  use  to 
him.  Such  testimony  would  satisfy  those  who  like 
to  take  refuge  under  the  shelter  of  a  great  name  ; 
at  the  same  time,  I  wish  to  insist  upon  this  capital 
point,  and  reply  to  the  objection  by  penetrating 
the  very  heart  of  the  difficulty. 

People  are  mistaken  about  the  true  nature  of 
Theology.  Theology  is  not  Faith  ;  it  is  the  science 
of  Faith.  Faith  is  necessary  to  every  Christian  ; 
Theology  is  not.  Faith  makes  believers  ;  Theology, 
those  learned  or  docte  in  the  Faith.  What  is 
necessary  to  the  science  of  Faith  ?  I  reply.  It  is 
necessary  to  apply  all  human  knowledge  to  the 
understanding  of  the  mysteries  of  God.  Theological 
Science  comprehends,  in  the  first  place,  revealed 
truths,  with  all  the  conclusions  and  all  the  sugges- 
tions that  a  logical  reason  can  set  forth  and 
deduce  ;  in  the  second  place,  all  those  rational 
explanations  which,  founded  upon  philosophy  and 
experimental  Science,   show  forth  the  established 


FAITH   AND    EXPEEIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  43 

truths  of  our  dogmas,  and  their  close  harmony 
with  the  laws  of  nature  and  the  principles  of 
reason.  Thus,  is  it  not  by  the  philosophic  study 
of  the  soul  that  we  perceive  the  ineffable  mystery 
of  the  Trinity?  And  the  experimental  sciences, 
geology,  anthropology,  and  physiology,  are  they 
not  necessary  conditions  of  the  explanation — 
always  wanting,  certainly,  as  it  is  human,  but  still 
most  useful — of  the  formation  of  the  world,  the 
creation  of  man,  the  resurrection,  and  many  other 
mysteries  ? 

Science,  you  see,  forms  an  integral  ixirt  of 
universal  Theology.  Without  it  one  may  be  a 
casuistical  Theologian — one  in  the  limited  sense 
of  the  word  ;  one  is  not  the  Theologian. 

The  type  of  the  savant  in  Faith  is  Thomas 
Aquinas.  The  most  famous  monument  of  scien- 
tific Faith  is  the  "Summa  Theologica  "  and  the 
"  Summa  contra  Gentiles."  All  the  light  brought 
by  divine  revelation  into  the  world,  the  philo- 
sophy of  incontestable  truths,  natural  Science, 
whether  of  language,  discovery,  or  experience — all 
are  condensed  in  the  masterly  works  of  this  great 
genius. 

He  was  predestined  by  Providence,  who  gave 
him  for  ancestors,  amongst  the  dead,  Aristotle  and 
Augustine;  for  father  and  for  master,  amongst  the 
living,  that  great  intelligence,  who  knew  how  to 
unite  with  revealed  and  philosophic  Science  all  the 
experimental  Science  of  his  age — I  mean  Albertus 
Magnus.  It  is  too  often  forgotten  that  Thomas 
Aquinas  had  as  guide  this  tremendous  man  ;  and 


44  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

that  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  the  great  Domi- 
nican, was  the  most  universal  genius  of  his  age, 
and  that  all  natm-al  Science  was  interpreted  by 
him. 

If  we  wish  to  revive  Theology  in  its  entirety,  we 
must  teach  young  believers  every  human  Science, 
and  if  we  wish  to  resuscitate  Thomas  Aquinas,  we 
must  first  evoke  Albertus  Magnus. 

Study  the  Summa  of  the  master;  examine  it 
carefully  from  the  treatise  on  the  existence  of 
God  down  to  the  last  conclusion  ;  not  a  question, 
not  an  article  in  which  natural  Science  does  not 
bear  witness  to  Faith,  and  enter,  as  an  integral 
part,  into  the  universal  synthesis. 

Theology  is  most  particularly  the  universal  and 
synthetical  Science.  In  it  scientific,  philosophic, 
and  revealed  truths  harmonize,  and  from  all  these 
united  rays  the  knowledge  of  God  shines  forth 
more  luminously.  Well  !  since  the  work  is  done, 
what  more  can  we  want  ?  The  Theological  monu- 
ment is  raised;  let  it  lie  down  in  its  shadow 
without  heeding  the  unquiet  wave  of  human 
thought.  God  forbid  that  I  should  undervalue  the 
finished  and  immortal  work  of  Thomas  Aquinas  ! 
The  spirit  is  ever  the  same,  and  ever  living  ;  but 
the  letter  waxes  old  and  dies.  The  theological 
spirit,  of  which  the  Angelic  Doctor  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  powerful  incarnation,  cannot  change  ; 
but  its  creations  must,  and  indeed  should,  alter. 
The  placing  all  experimental  and  philosophic 
Science  in  harmony  with  revelation  is  the  true 
spirit  of  Theology.      It    cannot   die   out   without 


FAITH   AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  45 

detriment  to  the  generation  and  the  race  that 
suffers  its  decline  ;  but  that  this  harmony  should 
be  established  between  such  and  such  a  prevailing 
Science  in  some  one  age  or  country,  and  Faith, 
ever  unchangeable  throughout  all  ages  and  races 
— this  is  the  work  susceptible  of  opportune  modi- 
fications. 

The  natural  Science,  the  physics,  the  astronomy, 
and  the  physiology  of  the  ancients  no  longer  exist  ; 
proved  to  be  either  false  or  ignorant,  they  cannot 
serve  as  human  explanations  of  the  truths  of  Faith. 
The  analogies  that  one  would  draw  from  them 
would  neither  be  solid  in  themselves,  nor  would 
they  possess  any  power  over  the  minds  of  the 
intelligent. 

What  must  be  done,  then  ? 

The  conclusion  is  obvious  and  inevitable  :  we 
must  make  ourselves  masters  of  modern  experi- 
mental Science,  whose  progress  and  whose  dis- 
coveries are  incontestable,  and  we  must  use  it 
to  the  honour  of  the  Faith,  just  as  Saint  Thomas 
Aquinas  himself,  thanks  to  his  synthetic  method, 
knew  how  to  make  use  of  the  natural  Science  of 
his  master,  Albertus  Magnus. 

Those  who  are  anxious  for  the  triumph  of  Faith 
have  no  illusions  to  cherish  and  no  time  to  lose. 
Science  is  growing  ;  she  becomes  in  the  eyes  of 
many  an  authority  from  which  there  is  no  appeal. 
Certain  minds  disdain  her  :  let  them  take  care  ; 
disdain  is  easy,  but  victory  is  less  so.  It  is  not 
sufficient  to  despise  in  order  to  conquer.  Truth 
can  be  served  by  other  means. 


46  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

If  we  do  not  apply  ourselves  earnestly  to  the 
conquest  of  the  natural  sciences,  the  fatal  result 
is  to  be  foreseen  ;  we  shall  lose,  little  by  little,  the 
ascendency  which  masters  of  the  Faith  exercise 
over  the  public  mind.  Eespect  and  prestige  are 
the  necessary  aureole  of  those  who  wish  to  be 
obeyed.  More,  not  only  do  believers  deprive  them- 
selves of  a  grand  testimony  in  favour  of  their 
Faith,  and  of  evidence  which  flatters  peculiarly 
this  generation  enamoured  of  positive  Science,  but 
they  prepare  themselves  terrible  enemies.  Science 
prosecuted  without  them  and  outside  them  will 
be  turned  against  them;  the  amphitheatres  and 
laboratories  will  become  arsenals,  where  will  be 
forged  arms  perfected  to  combat  them.  I  am 
uneasy  about  any  power  which  does  not  belong 
to  me  and  which  is  not  on  my  side  ;  for  the  enemy 
may  seize  upon  it,  and  if  he  confiscates  it  to  his 
advantage,  what  is  to  prevent  his  turning  it  against 
me  ? 

Nevertheless,  is  not  this  what  is  going  on  under 
our  very  eyes  ? 

Experimental  Science  extends  her  conquests  ; 
but  to  whose  advantage  ?  Her  own  doubtless,  and 
God's,  who  is  the  Master  of  every  Science;  but 
also  to  that  of  all  who  have  had  the  ability  and 
the  activity,  the  intelhgence  and  the  perseverance, 
to  conquer  her.  Free  thought  is  everywhere  in 
Science  :  it  is  in  astronomy,  in  chemistrj^  in 
biology,  in  sociology,  in  anthropology  ;  there  is  not 
one  of  those  sciences  that  has  not  been  seized 
upon  and  made  to  lie  against  God,  against  Christ, 
and  against  the  soul. 


FAITH   AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  47 

Let  others  feel  tranquil  ;  for  our  own  parts,  we 
cannot  help  being  both  impatient  and  ardent. 
Let  others  feel  secure  about  the  very  shafts  which 
strike  them  from  every  side  ;  for  our  own  parts,  we 
would  rather  of  these  despised  arrows  make  an 
offensive  weapon. 

Truly  the  temple  is  solid,  for  it  rests  upon  that 
corner-stone  which  is  Christ — is  that  any  reason 
for  allowing  it  to  be  invested  ?  That  it  will  not  be 
destroyed  is  my  conviction  ;  but  neither  should  it 
be  left  amongst  men  without  respect  and  without 
honour.  Its  light  is  the  eternal  flame  of  God  ;  why 
should  we  not  also  illumine  it  with  every  earthly 
splendour  ?  Science  holds  the  secrets  of  such 
illumination,  but  only  unfolds  them  to  energetic 
minds. 

Meanwhile — God  forbid  that  I  should  forget  it! — 
many  believers  have  resolutely  devoted  themselves 
to  gleaning  in  the  immense  and  ever-extending 
field  of  experimental  Science. 

The  clergy  themselves — at  least,  a  certain  number 
— both  in  France  and  elsewhere,  do  not  fear  to  j)ut 
their  hand  boldly  to  the  pickaxe  which  digs  into 
the  unexplored  world  of  Science.  And  it  is  not 
one  of  the  least  honours  of  the  French  clergy  that 
they  see  one  of  their  representatives  in  almost 
every  corner  of  the  domain  of  Science — geology, 
archaeology,  anthropology,  physics  and  chemistry, 
astronomy,  natural  history,  and  physiology.  It  is 
a  good  augury.  Thanks  to  the  work  of  these 
specialists,  general  ideas  of  Science  are  gradually 


48  SCIENCE   WITHOUT   GOD. 

spreading  amongst  us.  Instead  of  being  always  on 
the  defensive  to  refute,  by  arguments  that  our 
adversaries  can  challenge,  the  sophisms  of  a 
warped  Science,  we  shall  on  our  side  take  the 
offensive  ;  and  without  troubling  ourselves  about 
the  antagonisms  which  the  materialists,  the 
pantheists,  or  the  positivists  of  Science  affect  to 
multiply,  we  shall  establish  harmony  between 
Experience,  Eeason,  and  Faith.  From  thencefor- 
ward Science,  now  an  obstacle  to  the  turning  of 
minds  towards  Christian  dogmas,  will  become  a 
new  road  towards  them,  and  I  seem  already  to  see 
our  youth  following  in  this  path  of  light  which 
leads  to  the  temple  of  which  Christ  is  God. 

Is  it  not  Buffon,  the  great  naturalist,  who  says, 
"  The  truths  of  nature  will  be  discovered  only  with 
time,  and  the  sovereign  Master  reserves  them  as 
the  surest  means  of  calling  men  to  Himself,  when 
faith,  declining  with  the  course  of  ages,  becomes 
vacillating  "  ? 

There  is  yet  one  peril  into  which  imprudent 
apologists  would  drag  us. 

Let  us  not  be  carried  away  by  the  reigning 
Theories  of  Science  ;  they  have  their  day.  Let  us 
use  them  as  we  would  use  arms,  ready  to  lay  them 
down  when  a  more  complete  Science  breaks  them 
in  our  hands.  When  we  interpret  a  dogma  or 
a  revealed  book  by  the  aid  of  this  theory,  let  us 
remember  that  the  dogma  and  the  Word  of  God 
are  immutable,  but  that  our  knowledge  is 
ephemeral. 


FAITH    AND   EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  49 

The  Bible,  inspired  by  God  to  teach  men  the 
truths  which  shall  lead  us  to  our  end,  concerns 
itself  neither  with  Ptolemy  nor  Copernicus  ;  its 
object  is  not  to  teach  us  that  the  earth  is  round 
and  the  sun  its  centre.  There  is  nothing  to  prove 
that  when  he  wrote  his  sublime  account  of  the 
creation,  divided  into  six  periods,  and  ending  with 
the  repose  of  the  Eternal,  Moses  had  any  other 
intention  than  to  put  into  the  lips  of  his  people 
a  song  which  should  perpetuate  the  remembrance 
of  the  greatest  of  all  events,  and  put  before  the 
eyes  of  future  generations  a  grand  model  of  the 
typical  week  which  was  to  rule  the  life  of  the 
Hebrew  people. 

Certain  doctors,  in  a  hurry  to  avenge  the  Bible 
from  the  attacks  of  a  hostile  Science,  pretend  that 
it  speaks  like  Ptolemy  ;  others  like  Galileo  ;  this 
one  like  Cuvier  ;  that  like  Elie  de  Beaumont,  etc., 
etc.  Such  tactics  can  but  bring  into  disrepute 
both  Faith  and  the  holy  book.  What  would  one 
think  of  a  text  that  can  be  turned  every  way,  and 
interpreted  according  to  the  most  contradictory 
scientific  systems  ?  Nothing  proves  better  to  my 
mind  that  the  Bible  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  a 
scientific  book  ;  but  an  historical,  moral,  and 
religious  one. 

Leave  the  Word  of  God  in  His  heaven  ;  do  not 
compromise  it  by  abasing  it  upon  earth  ;  do  not 
imprudently  mingle  it  with  the  tempest  of  human 
thought.  Misalliances  are  never  worth  anything: 
they  do  not  raise  those  who  pretend  to  raise  them- 
selves, and  they  abase  those  who   are  misallied. 

E 


50  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

The  peasant  remains  a  peasant,  and  the  king's 
daughter  is  no  more  than  the  wife  of  him  whom 
she  marries. 

You  see  at  what  price  men  of  Science  and  believers 
can  put  an  end  to-day  to  the  struggle  which  is 
tearing  the  very  soul  of  the  present  generation. 

Men  of  Science,  the  masters  of  youth,  those  who 
prepare  them  for  public  functions,  themselves 
troubled  and  undecided,  when  they  are  not  openly 
hostile,  tell  them  nothing  about  God  and  Christ 
or  the  immortality  of  the  soul  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  scandalized  believers,  horrified  at  the  sight 
of  the  world's  indifference  and  obliviousness  of 
God,  as  it  walks  amongst  paths  intersected  with 
precipices,  amongst  a  refined  and  perfectly  material 
civilization,  utter  cries  of  alarm  and  prophesy 
catastrophes. 

We  behold  the  growth  of  two  hostile  races  :  the 
sons  of  the  earth,  infatuated  with  materialized 
Science,  rejecting  God,  and  foolishly  announcing 
that  the  time  has  come  when  the  heavens  are 
henceforth  to  be  empty,  and  when  the  earth,  trans- 
formed by  man,  will  suffice  for  the  reduced  aspira- 
tions of  disabused  humanity  ;  and  the  sons  of  Faith, 
who  are  animated  by  an  indomitable  hope,  who, 
seeing  the  world  transform  itself  by  the  action  of 
terrestrial  Science,  believe  with  equal  energy  in  the 
transformation  of  human  Science  by  the  action  of 
the  Gospel,  and  in  the  more  overwhelming  irradia- 
tion of  the  Word  of  God  and  of  Christ,  better  inter- 
preted and  more  profoundly  known. 


FAITH   AND    EXPEEIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  51 

Which  will  vanquish  ? 

Between  these  two  races,  that  I  may  call — one 
horizontal  and  brutalized,  the  other  vertical  and 
moving  to  the  Infinite — accord  is  not  possible.  The 
one  will  kill  the  other. 

I  say  "  kill  "  without  alluding  to  violence  or  the 
sword  ;  and  to  avoid  equivocation  I  may  say  more 
properly,  the  one  will  transform  the  other.  This 
is  my  Faith. 

The  struggle  for  existence,  vital  rivalry,  is  a 
sublime  law  ;  widely  understood,  it  is  undeniably 
the  exact  expression  of  that  great  fact,  summed  up 
by  phenomena  in  the  empire  of  life.  Who  triumphs 
in  the  struggle  ?  who  remains  master  in  this 
rivalry  ?  The  bravest  and  the  strongest.  Trans- 
late, in  speaking  of  intelligent  beings,  the  most 
active,  the  most  devoted,  and  the  most  enlightened. 

This  gives  me  hope  for  Thee,  0  Christ,  and  for 
the  race  descended  from  Thee.  Has  there  arisen 
in  the  whole  human  family  a  being  more  en- 
lightened than  Thou  ?  Has  one  arisen  who  can 
rival  Thee  in  that  absolute  charity  which  Thou  hast 
given  for  a  law  to  thine  own  ?  And  who  has  known 
better  than  Thou,  to  do  and  to  suffer,  even  to  the 
death,  to  prove  whom  Thou  wert  ?  From  what 
ancestors  are  they  descended  who  deny  Thee  ? 
From  whom  are  they  raised  up  ?  When  they  are 
asked  their  master,  where  do  they  look  ?  .  .  . 

We  fear  neither  the  matter  in  which  they  glory, 
nor  the  anthropoid  from  which  they  believe  them- 
selves descended,  nor  the  science  with  which  they 
inflate  themselves,  nor  the  false  liberty  for  which 


52  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

they  cry  out.  Matter  will  be  vanquished  by  the 
spirit  of  Him  who  has  taught  us  to  subdue  the 
beast  within  us  ;  and  as  that  beast  exists,  it  will 
be  subdued,  muzzled,  and  transformed. 

The  Science  of  earth  will  be  re-allied  to  the 
Science  of  heaven  :  how  shall  that  light  which 
shines  in  the  darkness  of  the  human  brain  pretend 
to  eclipse  the  splendour  of  which  God  Himself  is 
the  focus  ?  That  misunderstood  liberty  of  those 
who,  under  its  name,  forge  chains  which  the 
deceived  multitude  take  for  necklaces  or  bracelets, 
will  be  vanquished  by  that  liberty,  filled  with  the 
love  of  God,  who  loves  men,  and  has  inculcated  a 
sublime  fraternity.  And  how  shall  that  liberty, 
which  is  governed  by  tyrannical  passions  and  is 
coupled  with  hatred,  pretend  to  vanquish  that  en- 
franchised liberty  which  is  governed  by  love  ? 

Open  your  heart  to  these  hopes,  0  young  man 
to  whom  your  country  seems  to  confide  her  future, 
and  who  works  to  raise  and  glorify  her  through 
peace.  To  hope  is  to  live  !  And  in  these  crises 
where  all  is  at  stake  it  is  necessary  to  have  a 
vitality  above  proof,  and  a  surplus  of  hope.  Be  a 
man  of  hope  and  of  great  desires  in  order  to  be  a 
man  of  great  battles. 

The  prophet  who,  centuries  before  His  advent, 
pointed  to  Christ,  was  praised  by  God  Himself,  who 
inspired  him,  as  the  man  of  desires,  vir  deslderiorum. 
Thou  whose  soul,  awakened  and  ardently  engrossed 
with  the  work  of  Christ,  waits  His  return  amongst 
men;  thou  that  workest  to  open  Him  a  road 
amongst  modern  nations  and  new  societies,  seated 


FAITH   AND    EXPERIMENTAL    SCIENCE.  53 

in  shadows  of  unbelief  and  in  spiritual  death,  be 
like  Daniel,  the  "man  of  desires,"  and  steep  in 
inviolable  conviction  the  energy  which  makes  thee 
brave,  and  the  wisdom  which  leads  to  victory. 

The  work  is  urgent. 

The  day  when  we  shall  have  discovered  in  Science 
the  experimental  truths  which  are  its  prize,  and 
the  false  systems  which  corrupt  it  ;  the  day  when 
in  matters  of  Faith  we  shall  have  put  apart  indis- 
putable truths  and  human  interpretations  ;  the  day 
when,  well  aware  of  the  limits  of  the  two  domains, 
we  shall  neither  mix  up  Science  with  Faith,  nor 
Faith  with  Science,  but,  without  confounding  their 
means  and  their  end,  shall  bring  face  to  face  these 
two  orders  of  truth — on  that  day  there  will  be  light 
in  every  intellect.  One  can  prophesy  it  :  a  new 
sun  will  shine  in  this  sad  age.  Light  will  announce 
Peace,  and  Truth,  which  gives  deliverance,  will  re- 
suscitate Liberty  with  its  indomitable  vitality. 

That  day  is  near.  There  seems  even  now  a  speck 
of  light  upon  the  dark  horizon. 

Let  us  help  this  sunrise,  if  only  by  our  wishes. 
Better  than  any  one,  we  are  convinced  that  wishes, 
before  God,  are  worth  more  than  our  humble 
work. 

Man  prays  and  longs  ;  God  acts.  What  is  the 
work  of  man?  Almost  nothing.  What  are  his 
prayers  and  desires  ?  Almost  everything  ;  for  they 
move  the  sovereign  action  of  the  Infinite. 


FIEST  DISCOUESE. 

positivism. 

Brethren, 

It   is   not   without   emotion  that    I    again 
come  amongst  you. 

Time,  which  modifies,  uses,  and  carries  away 
everything  in  this  world,  has  respected  this  labour 
of  enlightenment  at  which  we  are  working  together  : 
you  in  bringing  to  it  that  unbiased  mind  which 
is  ready  to  sacrifice  all  to  truth,  and  I  in  bringing 
before  you  the  doctrine  of  God,  that  doctrine  whose 
right  understanding  is  the  price  of  much  watching, 
study,  and  prayer. 

Those  who  have  vowed  themselves  to  this  holy 
labour  have  an  heroic  task  to  accomj^lish.  More 
than  once  their  soul  has  been  martyred  and  torn. 
You  pity  the  labourer  of  the  soil  because  he  suffers  ; 
you  esteem  his  activity  and  courage.  Never  pity 
the  labourer  of  the  truth  ;  exalt  him  all  the  more, 
as  his  work  is  greater.  One  does  not  pity  the 
martyr.  Truth  requires  martyrs  for  her  servants  : 
she  is  conquered  only  by  the  very  blood  of  the  soul. 

I  attempted  last  year  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the 
Catholic  notion  of  man  ;  to-day  I  speak  to  you  of 


POSITIVISM.  55 

God.  Why  of  God  ?  Ah,  brethren,  was  there  ever 
greater  necessity  for  touching  upon  such  a  subject  ? 
If  the  idea  of  man  is  misunderstood,  the  idea  of 
God  is  still  more  so. 

Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves.  It  is  not  only  the 
worship  that  is  attacked,  nor  the  temporal  establish- 
ment of  the  Chm'ch  that  is  threatened;  it  is  not 
only  the  spirit  of  Christianity  that  they  wish  to 
remodel  ;  it  is  something  more  :  it  is  God  Himself, 
it  is  the  very  corner-stone  of  all  religion,  that  they 
want  to  shake  and  shatter.  Perhaps  you  think 
that  the  idea  of  God  should  be  left  to  philosophers 
to  defend.  No,  brethren.  We  are  the  guardians  of 
the  temple  ;  it  belongs  to  us,  rather  than  to  the 
profane,  to  repair  its  ruins.  Besides,  where  are  the 
philosophers  ?  Their  voices  are  to-day  dumb  or 
impotent.  Thus,  the  philosophers  being  no  longer 
listened  to,  who  shall  defend  God,  if  not  the  priest  ? 
He  can  defend  Himself,  you  will  say,  and,  besides, 
where  are  His  enemies  ?  They  are  everywhere. 
You  can  easily  see  it.  To  whom  do  the  people  of 
France  go  ?  To  God  ?  No.  The  lower  classes 
turn  away;  they  grovel  upon  the  earth,  while 
blaspheming  heaven,  and  breaking  the  cross  upon 
which  Christ  suffered  death.  By  the  side  of  this 
mass,  carried  away  pell-mell,  look  at  that  brilliant 
and  corrupt  crowd,  throwing  itself  into  the  arms 
of  matter,  to  beg  fi'om  it,  not  its  subsistence, 
but  unbridled  enjoyment.  That  crowd  is  you,  0 
civiHzed  ones  of  this  age,  great  forgetters  of  God, 
that  the  fever  of  business  and  of  pleasure  drags  far 
away  fi-om  Him  and  monopolizes. 


56  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

Those  men  who  think  in  this  age,  do  they  even 
raise  their  eyes  to  God  ?  Look  :  the  learned  turn 
away  from  Him  by  thousands  ;  absorbed  in  the 
study  of  phenomena,  they  forget  the  Principle  ; 
seduced  by  the  attraction  of  secondary  causes,  they 
foolishly  attempt  to  explain  effects  without  the 
First  Cause.  Before,  it  was  the  despot  who  roused 
himself  against  God  and  His  Christ.  The  parts  are 
changed;  to-day  it  is  the  learned  who  organize 
themselves  together  to  intercept  the  Eternal  Light, 
and  close  the  paths  which  bring  it  to  the  human 
soul. 

They  have  framed  four  grand  systems  in  their 
war  against  God  :  scepticism,  which  by  doubting 
reason  doubts  God  ;  pantheism,  which  confounds 
nature  and  God  ;  materialism,  which  places  God 
in  matter  ;  positivism,  which  refuses  to  concern 
itself  with  the  Infinite  and  the  Absolute.  Well, 
brethren,  when  the  brute  instinct  blasphemes  God, 
when  civilization  disdains  Him,  when  atheistic 
Science  banishes  Him,  have  I  not  the  right — what 
do  I  say  ? — is  it  not  my  duty  to  be  His  witness,  to 
defend  Him  with  all  the  poor  science  of  which  I  am 
master,  with  all  my  reason  and  with  all  my  faith  ? 

This  is  my  duty  :  to  demolish  first  of  all,  one  by 
one,  all  the  systems  of  atheism  ;  to  establish  scien- 
tifically the  existence  of  the  Divine  Being  ;  and  to 
formulate  concerning  Him  the  true  idea,  such  as  is 
necessary  to  a  mind  capable  of  believing,  of  reason- 
ing, and  of  experimenting — to  a  mind  formed  to 
adore,  to  love,  and  to  pray  to  the  Infinite. 

I  am  confident,  brethren,  that  you  will  support  by 


POSITIVISM.  57 

your  intelligent  sympathy,  this  work,  which  has  no 
other  ambition  than  the  honom'  of  our  faith,  and 
its  defence  against  vain  and  dreary  theories. 
Certain  people  see  in  Catholicism  only  a  collection 
of  rites,  a  pious  routine  ;  they  are  tempted  to  despise 
it.  Let  us  prove  to  them  that  it  is  the  sublimest 
and  most  irrefutable  of  doctrines.  The  ignorant, 
corrupt  souls,  warped  minds,  despise  the  truth — 
so  much  the  worse  for  them.  We  speak  to  loyal 
souls  ;  and  it  is  sufficient  for  the  truth  to  be  made 
apparent,  to  convince  and  re-ally  those  who  are 
sincere. 

It  is  expedient,  brethren,  to  attack  first  of  all 
that  system,  born  only  from  yesterday,  which  in 
the  name  of  Science  dares  to  interdict  the  human 
mind  from  all  search  after  God,  and  which,  if  it 
was  true,  would  be  the  radical  condemnation  of  all 
theodicy.     I  mean  Positivism. 

Be  not  surprised  at  the  severity  of  my  language 
in  refuting  it  ;  if  it  is  necessary  to  justify  it  before 
you,  I  beg  to  remind  you  that  it  is  one  of  those 
errors  that  a  loyal  reason  can  never  brand  with  too 
great  energy  and  indignation. 

Considered  doctrinally.  Positivism  is  a  system 
which  professes  to  believe  only  those  things  which 
are  accessible  to  experience.  It  will  admit  no 
other  reality  but  matter,  its  properties  and  its 
forces,  its  phenomena  and  its  laws.  It  only  studies 
and  aspires  to  know  that  which  is  to  be  seen, 
measm-ed,  and  weighed.  The  rest  it  regards  as 
hypothetical  and  outside  the  sphere  of  intelligence  ; 


58  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

from  thenceforward  it  does  not  concern  it.  Observe, 
brethren,  it  does  not  deny,  it  does  not  afifirm  ;  more 
reserved  and  more  crafty,  it  does  not  concern 
itself  in  the  matter,  and  if  it  is  pressed  to  explain 
this  strange  attitude,  it  escapes  by  saying:  "The 
invisible  is  not  in  my  domain,  nor  within  my 
cognizance." 

Experience  is  its  sole  method.  Eeason  to  it  is 
entirely  experimental;  it  is  only  the  faculty  of 
entering  into  sensible  relation  with  matter.  To 
analyze,  decompose,  or  compare  facts  ;  to  formu- 
late under  the  name  of  laws,  their  consonance  of 
similitude  or  of  divergence,  of  succession  or  of 
simultaneity,  by  attempting  syntheses  always  vaster 
and  always  insufficient — such  is  its  work  ;  but 
it  attempts  in  vain  to  penetrate  the  unique  Law 
which  all  obeys.  The  unique  Law  is  not  where 
it  searches  for  it.     Its  secret  is  to  it  closed. 

This  is  the  sum  of  this  narrow  doctrine,  the 
most  exclusive  ever  conceived  by  the  brain  of  man. 
It  is  the  most  perfidious  blow  that  has  ever  been 
struck,  I  do  not  say  at  faith,  but  at  reason.  From 
the  moment  that  you  profess  only  to  admit  matter, 
all  that  is  not  matter  must  be  regarded  as  null 
and  non-existent.  Now,  would  you  weigh  the 
soul  ?  or  measure  it  ?  And  God — who  has  weighed 
Him  or  measured  Him  ?  Who  can  describe  His 
face  or  draw  His  outline  ?  Therefore,  as  religion 
rests  upon  God  and  upon  the  soul,  for  a  virile 
intelligence  entering  into  Positivism  there  is 
neither  God,  nor  soul,  nor  religion;  they  are  old 
words,  hoUow  legends  from  which  a  scientific  mind 


POSITIVISM.  59 

is  henceforth  free.  Humanity,  according  to  Posi- 
tivism, has  for  a  long  time  amused  itself  with 
reveries  without  an  object  ;  they  must  be  put  an 
end  to.  "  Science,"  saj^s  the  master  of  the  young 
school,  "  has  put  into  retirement  the  Father  of 
Nature,  and  it  has  just  reconducted  God  to  His  own 
frontier,  after  thanking  Him  for  His  provisional 
services." 

You  see  to  what  such  a  system  would  lead  us. 
The  defenders  of  Eeason  and  Faith  are  warned. 
Let  them  rise  up  and  keep  guard  ;  to-morrow,  per- 
haps, it  may  be  too  late. 

Positivism  is  as  yet,  even  amongst  the  learned, 
but  a  small  sect,  but  its  spirit  permeates  every- 
thing— science,  literature,  the  institutions  and 
laws,  private  life  and  public  life.  The  apparent 
certainty  of  its  process,  the  fascination  which 
matter  and  science  exercise,  the  disgust  of  God 
which  has  possessed  so  many  souls,  the  scepticism 
which  enervates  so  many  intellects — all  contribute 
to  put  in  fashion  a  theory  which  in  other  ages 
would  not  have  aroused  a  glance  of  curiosity. 
If  we  do  not  seize  it  hand  to  hand,  it  will  force 
itself  upon  us,  it  will  govern  us  and  go  before  us 
with  authority.  To-day  daring,  to-morrow  it  will 
be  invincible.  It  must  be  conquered,  examined  in 
its  relation  to  man,  studied  in  itself,  confronted 
with  its  own  principles — judged,  in  fact,  by  the 
tenets  it  holds  and  from  which  it  partly  takes  the 
secret  of  its  strength. 

In  its  relation  to  man.  Positivism  appears  like 
a  sacrilegious  outrage.     Studied  in  itself,  it  is  in 


60  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

plain  contradiction,  and  thus  at  the  first  shock 
breaks  like  iron  when  its  granulation  impedes  the 
cohesion  of  the  molecules.  In  its  tenets  Posi- 
tivism is  perfidious,  it  is  disguised  ;  it  is  weak 
because  it  dissembles.  Let  us,  then,  tear  off  the 
mask  and  not  fear  to  expose  and  stigmatize  this 
hypocritical  doctrine. 

Man  has  a  right  to  judge  all  systems,  measuring 
them  by  his  own  standard — as  they  give  them- 
selves out  to  be  the  perfection  of  his  intelligence 
and  the  complement  of  his  faculties,  and  that, 
summed  up,  they  are  made  for  him.  Let  Posi- 
tivism appear,  then,  at  the  bar  of  the  living 
conscience,  and  let  it  reply  to  her.  Conscience  will 
remain  sovereign  judge  of  those  who  wish  to 
suppress  God. 

How  does  it  treat  man  ? 

First  of  all,  brethren,  it  ignores  his  religious 
aspirations  ;  it  tortures  and  insults  that  which  is 
the  most  sublime  and  sacred  part  of  man.  This 
is  its  first  crime.  One  cannot  long  mistake  those 
legitimate  instincts,  those  complex  energies  which 
move  and  engross  our  very  being.  No  matter 
what  may  be  the  blindness  of  passion  or  the 
illusion  of  false  systems,  the  slightest  glance,  in 
an  hour  of  clear  vision  and  sincerity,  ,is  sufficient 
to  show  us  the  grand  dimensions  of  our  nature, 
and  to  shadow  forth  all  that  it  contains  of  the 
immortal  and  infinite. 

Well,  I  ask  you,  what  is  the  predominant 
longing  in  you  ?  what  is  at  once  the  highest  and 
most  indestructible  aspiration  ? 


POSITIVISM.  61 

Is  it  the  wish  to  vegetate,  to  have  your  daily 
bread,  in  order  not  to  faint  on  the  way  ?  You 
deceive  yourselves,  brethren  ;  "  man  does  not  live 
by  bread  alone." 

What  is  the  satiety  of  the  body  to  me  if  the  soul 
is  empty?  And  what  matters  its  hunger  if  the 
soul  is  satisfied  ? 

But  what  can  satisfy  the  soul  ?  Nothing 
created  ;  neither  riches  nor  pleasure,  neither  glory 
nor  power,  neither  Science  nor,  even,  virtue. 
There  is  in  it  a  still  higher  longing,  a  divine 
hunger  that  the  Infinite  alone  can  appease. 
Whosoever  has  not  felt  this  sublime  hunger  has 
not  been  born  into  the  grand  life  of  man;  and 
whosoever  by  any  possibility  has  succeeded  in 
stifling  it  ought,  at  the  same  time,  to  have  ceased 
to  live.  The  observer  who  takes  no  account,  in 
the  intimate  life  of  man  or  the  general  life  of 
humanity,  of  this  great  phenomenon,  has  seen  only 
the  surface  of  our  nature. 

Now,  brethren,  what  place  does  Positivism  give 
in  its  doctrine  to  the  want,  to  what  I  may  fear- 
lessly call  the  passion,  for  God  ?  Does  it  explam 
it  ?  Does  it  even  speak  of  it  ?  Yes,  it  speaks  of 
it,  but  to  destroy  it  ;  yes,  it  endeavours  to  explain, 
but  only  to  condemn  and  thrust  it  away.  This 
leaning  towards  the  Infinite  is  without  an  object — 
according  to  it  ;  this  hunger  an  illusion  ;  this 
sacred  aspiration  an  infirmity,  almost  a  madness. 
"  What  dost  thou  seek  above  the  earth,"  it  says  to 
us  in  contemptuous  accents,  ''thou  foolish  creature, 
so  slow  to  quit  the  illusions  of  childhood  ?    What 


62  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

is  the  use  of  gazing  fixedly  upon  that  illimitable 
horizon  ?  It  is  impenetrable.  Be  wise,  therefore, 
and  learn  to  circumscribe  thyself.  Thou  canst 
not  attain  to  that  immensity  which  fascinates  and 
tortures  thee  ;  put  a  veil  across  thine  eyes,  and, 
instead  of  allowing  thy  vain  contemplation  to 
stray  into  the  heavens,  look  at  the  earth  and 
conquer  it.  Heaven  was  not  made  for  thee  ;  the 
earth  is  thy  only  domain."  By  what  right,  in 
truth,  are  such  decrees  formulated  ?  Why  re- 
pudiate noble  and  invincible  tendencies  ?  Your 
doctrine  cannot  explain  them — does  that  mean 
that  it  must  deny  them  ?  Facts  are  not  to  be 
bent  to  yom'  systems  ;  your  systems  must  be  in 
accordance  with  fact. 

Supposing  it  was  sufficient,  in  order  to  appease 
the  vehemence  of  its  longings,  to  say  to  the  soul, 
"Be  calm;"  but  who  could  possibly  compress 
their  nature  thus  ?  It  is  ever  pushing  forwards  : 
who  can  at  their  pleasure  drag  it  back  ?  It  rises 
to  God  :  who  can  prevent  it  fi'om  reaching  towards 
the  Infinite  ?  Even  if  one  could,  has  one  the 
right  ?  But  one  neither  has  the  power  nor  the 
right.  It  is  well  for  Positivism  to  know  that  it, 
no  more  than  Epicurus  of  old,  can  succeed  in  putting 
a  stop  to  our  heavenward  aspirations,  and  binding 
us  down  to  what  can  be  seen,  weighed,  and 
measm-ed.  It  may  say  "  nothing  is  but  matter  " — 
we  do  not  believe  it.  In  spite  of  ourselves  the 
Infinite  torments  us.  Matter  ?  it  overwhelms  us. 
Matter?  in  the  end  it  disgusts  us.  All  these 
systems,  with  their  sacrilegious  pretensions  of  limit- 


POSITIVISM.  63 

ing  us  to  themselves,  are  too  narrow  for  the  great- 
ness of  our  soul.  If  logic  did  not  vanquish  them, 
the  expansion  of  our  divine  vitality  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  shatter  them  ;  human  nature  is  an  ocean 
without  limit,  and  they  would  not  even  be  as  the 
rock  which  restrains  the  wave  and  provokes  its 
fury  in  the  attempt  to  arrest  it. 

Let  us  now  see,  my  brethren,  to  what  mutilation 
of  reason — the  master  faculty  of  man — Positivism 
lends  itself  ;  this  is  its  second  crime. 

As  a  religious  being,  man  reclaims  the  Infinite  ; 
as  a  reasonable  being,  he  wants  Truth  ;  he  seeks  for 
it  in  every  direction,  and  only  seeks  to  know  it  in 
order  to  live  in  its  light.    Now,  reason  in  the  pursuit 
of  truth  executes  three  principal  acts.     By  the  first 
she    experiments,    and    by   casting    herself    upon 
things    outside,    she    seizes    phenomena,   analyzes 
them,   compares   them,  and   discovers  their  laws. 
By  the  second  she  turns  within  herself,  attentive 
to  the   facts  of  her  perception  ;    she  argues,  dis- 
courses, rises  to  the  very  substance  and  cause,  and 
contemplates  by  the  rays  of  a  higher  light  those 
eternal  and  necessary  truths  without  which  it  would 
be  impossible  even  to  think.    Lastly,  by  the  third 
she  enters  into  religious  connection  with  the  Cause 
of  causes,  the  Absolute  Principle  of  being,  which 
deigns  to  reveal  Itself  to  her  ;  and,  without  being 
able  to  measure  or  comprehend  It,  she  perceives 
It,  afiirms  It,  listens  to  It,  adores  It.     All  Science 
is  in  the  first  act,  all  philosophy  in  the  second,  all 
the  faith  of  believers  in  the  third.     They  are  jomed 


64  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

in  an  indissoluble  harmony;  they  are  superposed 
and  appeal  to  each  other  ;  to  isolate  is  to  weaken 
them.  How  can  I  experiment  without  being  fur- 
nished with  those  immutable  principles  which  are 
the  condition  of  all  experience  ?  How  can  I  con- 
ceive these  supreme  axioms  to  which  my  thoughts 
are  obedient,  without  going  back  to  the  focus  from 
whence  these  narrow,  divided,  and  broken  rays  have 
escaped  to  shine  within  and  around  me. 

These  truths  ought,  by  their  very  clearness,  to 
force  themselves  upon  the  mind.  But  that  is 
nothing  !  Sophism  has  every  audacity  ;  at  will 
it  sows  shadows  before  it,  and  covers  its  steps  with 
night,  in  order  to  conceal  the  attack  more  surely, 
and  to  surprise  what  it  dares  not  confront.  Do 
you  know  the  tactics  of  the  Positivists  ?  In  their 
arbitrary  dogmatism  they  have  proclaimed  this  : 
"Those  questions  which  concern  the  origin  and 
end  of  things  are  outside  the  pale  of  human  com- 
prehension, and  consequently  can  no  longer  direct 
the  inquiries  of  the  mind,  the  conduct  of  man,  or 
the  development  of  society.  As  to  the  origin  of 
things,  we  were  not  there  ;  to  the  end  of  things 
we  have  not  yet  arrived.  We  have,  therefore,  no 
means  of  knowing  either  this  origin  or  this  end." 

Tired  of  ancient  systems  that  an  impotent  philo- 
sophy built  and  rebuilt  incessantly,  disabused  of 
the  religious  conceptions  of  humanity  which  they 
treat  as  childish  dreams,  they  teach  that  experience 
is  the  only  light,  and  have  decreed  the  admission 
of  that  alone  as  true  which  it  controls  :  and  all  is 
said. 


POSITIVISM.  65 

But,  my  brethren,  this  is  just  the  point  :  Posi- 
tivism affirms,  it  must  also  prove.  Experience  is 
only  a  third  of  complete  reason.  That  to  which  it 
cannot  attain,  speculative  reason  may  discover. 
Where  the  feet  of  man  cannot  tread,  its  wings 
may  hear  it. 

In  a  living  nature  it  is  not  allowable  to  sup- 
press a  part.  Although  a  faculty  may  unsettle  us 
by  its  digressions,  or  disconcert  us  by  its  weakness, 
it  must  yet  be  respected.  It  must  be  restrained  or 
stimulated,  not  suj^pressed.  What  is  true  of  a 
faculty  is  not  less  so  of  its  functions.  To  paralyze 
one  is  an  offence  against  nature.  And  it  is  you, 
you  men  of  Science,  defenders  of  the  light,  who 
would  raise  this  homicidal  hand  against  human 
reason  ;  it  is  you  who  would  only  preserve  its  least 
function,  that  lower  function  which  puts  it  in  con- 
tact with  matter;  it  is  you  who  would  forbid  its 
most  vigorous  impulse — that  by  which  it  enters 
into  itself,  and  the  sublime  impetus  which  unites 
it  to  the  absolute  Principle. 

You  will  not  succeed.  You  are  only  deniers, 
deniers  to  the  utmost  ;  and  humanity,  while  con- 
temning you,  will  always  reply  in  the  words  of 
Shakespeare  :  "  There  are  more  things  in  heaven 
and  earth,  Horatio,  than  are  dreamt  of  in  your 
philosophy  !  " 

After  all,  what  is  a  doctrine  of  which  the  basis 
is  so  weak,  and  which  in  order  to  seduce  can  invoke 
neither  sternness  of  logic  nor  grandeur  of  concep- 
tion? 

When    materialism,   with   Condillac,  sought  to 

F 


66  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

deduce  everything  from  a  transformed  Primordial 
sensation,  there  was  in  this  work  a  power  of 
analysis  which  might  attract  more  than  one  mind. 
When  pantheism  wished  to  establish  the  consub- 
stantial  unity  of  the  finite  with  the  Infinite,  panthe- 
ism was  enabled  to  seduce  more  than  one  religious 
soul  that  found  in  that  the  ideal  of  its  dreams,  and 
more  than  one  exacting  reason  which  the  dualism 
of  creation  had  staggered.  When,  in  the  presence 
of  redoubtable  contradictions  which  arose  between 
the  experimental  world  and  rational  conception, 
reason  began  to  doubt  itself,  and  did  not  recoil  even 
from  suicide,  there  was,  even  in  this  work  of  death, 
a  funereal  grandeur — the  grandeur  of  Samson 
crushed  beneath  the  ruins  of  the  temple  whose 
columns  he  had  himself  destroyed.  But  in  Posi- 
tivism there  is  nothing  grand,  nothing  fine,  nothing 
alluring.  I  see  in  it  only  the  work  of  withered  and 
discouraged  minds,  Uasé  souls  in  which  long  com- 
merce with  matter  has  blunted  all  sense  of  the 
divine. 

And  that  is  why,  brethren,  we  reject  and  con- 
demn it,  in  the  name  of  Faith,  and  also  in  the 
name  of  Eeason,  in  the  name  of  God  and  also  of 
man.  It  is  man  more  than  God  that  is  endan- 
gered by  this  narrow  doctrine,  whose  whole  genius 
consists  in  dissimulating,  beneath  a  materialized 
learning,  a  system  of  dreadful  negation. 

Let  us  quit,  now,  these  lofty  regions  of  specula- 
tive reason  :  because  of  its  sublimity  it  is,  perhaps, 
not   accessible   to  aU  minds.     Let  us   enter  into 


POSITIVISM.  67 

practical  and  moral  life  ;  for  Positivism,  not  con- 
tent with  reducing  all  the  natural  sciences  to 
experience,  i)retends  to  bring  into  the  same  limits 
moral  Science  itself,  in  order  to  render  it  as  certain 
and  solid  as  physical  Science.  Here  no  one  can  be 
indifferent  ;  we  are  in  the  presence  of  that  which 
is  man's  peculiar  glory  and  entitles  him  most  to 
respect,  which  alone  can  elevate  him  above  all  else 
— I  mean  virtue  and  morality. 

What  does  Positivism  do  with  morality,  vh'tue, 
and  conscience  ? 

The  object  of  morality  is  the  inclination  of 
every  free  and  intelligent  man  towards  good. 
What  is  good?  This  is  for  practical  reason  to 
teach,  and  conscience  to  command.  When  this 
light  shines  forth,  liberty  finds  its  master.  To 
obey  this  master  is  our  first  duty  ;  to  he  able  to 
follow  it  our  most  sacred  right,  and  the  unattack- 
able  basis  of  our  independence.  Nothing  can 
fetter  us  and  say,  "Thou  shalt  not  do  good." 
Conscience  is  supreme  ;  she  gives  commands,  but 
receives  none,  save  fi'om  God.  Neither  despot- 
ism, nor  passion,  nor  sophism  can  long  succeed  in 
stifling  this  voice,  which  is  the  echo  of  God's. 
Despotism  will  tire  itself  out,  passion  be  silent, 
and  sophistry  dulled;  and  man,  sooner  or  later, 
will  understand  that  for  him  repose  and  honour  are 
only  to  be  found  in  the  acceptation  of  the  impera- 
tive mandates  of  conscience. 

Above  every  other  idea,  there  arises  within  us, 
brethren,  the  grand  one  of  duty,  of  moral  obhga- 
tion.     It  does  not  confound  itself  with  the  useful  ; 


68  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

it  has  nothing  in  common  with  the  necessary. 
And,  indeed,  brethren,  what  is  the  useful  ?  That 
which  must  be  done  under  pain  of  suffering. 
What  is  the  necessary  ?  That  which  must  be  done 
under  pain  of  death.  And  the  obhgatory  ?  Listen; 
some  one  says  to  you,  "  Act  against  your  con- 
science, or  you  die."  "Would  you  submit  yourself 
to  this  immoral  and  iniquitous  order  ?  Would  you 
violate  your  conscience  ?  No.  Invincible  in  your 
right,  you  would  say  to  the  executioner,  "  Strike  if 
you  will  :  I  know  how  to  suffer,  I  know  how  to  die  ; 
but  I  will  not  betray  my  duty."  This,  brethren,  is 
the  obligatory.  And,  if  it  is  necessary  to  define  it 
in  words,  I  should  say,  The  obligatory  is  that 
which  must  be  done  even  at  the  cost  of  suffering  or 
of  death. 

Well,  I  defy  Positivism  to  explain  the  law  of 
morality  and  its  character  of  absolute  obligation. 
Imprisoned  by  prejudice  in  experience,  it  is  to 
experience  alone  that  it  can  have  the  right  to 
appeal.  Let  it  observe  and  comj^are  facts,  let  it 
analyze  them  at  will,  let  it  multiply  and  torture 
them  ;  facts  will  not  furnish  it  with  the  absolute 
divine  notion  of  duty  and  right.  Experience  may 
reveal  to  us  in  matter  the  useful  and  the  necessary, 
but  never  the  obligatory.  It  is  given  us  only  by 
conscience  and  practical  reason.  The  one  reveals 
to  us  what  is  good  :  it  may  hold  a  different  lan- 
guage according  to  the  age,  the  degree  of  culture, 
the  race,  and  the  genius  of  those  it  teaches.  The 
other  binds  us  to  good  ;  laws  change,  nations  dis- 
appear, ages  pass  away,  but  that  obligation  re- 


POSITIVISM.  69 

mains  immutable;  and  the  chains  forged  by  con- 
science are  everywhere  and  always  of  the  same 
divine  metal. 

The  best  fortified  scepticism  is  constrained  to 
capitulate  before  the  law  of  duty,  and  to  recognize 
its  absolute  character  ;  if  not,  moral  order  is  shaken 
to  its  very  foundation,  and  not  one  stone  is  left 
upon  another.  Kant  well  understood  this — he,  the 
audacious  sceptic,  who  shook  human  reason  with 
an  arm  of  h'on,  and  drove  out  the  most  sublime 
and  necessary  truths  in  the  name  of  his  implacable 
logic.  After  having  accumulated  so  many  ruins, 
he  paused  before  duty  and  confessed  its  objective 
reality,  and,  convinced  that  all  should  bow  before 
the  good,  he  said,  not  without  grandeur  and  en- 
thusiasm, "  Two  things  fill  the  soul  with  an  ever- 
renewed  admiration  and  respect,  which  increases  as 
thought  reverts  to  them  oftener  and  applies  itself 
to  them  more  closely  :  the  starry  heavens  above  us, 
and  the  moral  law  within." 

If  Positivism  washes  to  remain  faithful  to  its 
principles — and  it  pretends  to  do  so — if  it  wishes 
to  be  logical,  and  not,  like  Kant,  destroy  wdth 
one  hand  and  build  up  again  with  the  other, 
there  is  an  end  for  it  of  all  duty  and  virtue  ;  it  is 
perforce  confined  to  that  egotism  of  which  interest 
is  the  rule,  and  to  that  fatahsm  of  which  brute 
force  is  the  law. 

Let  it  not  attempt  to  shirk  these  consequences. 
It  speaks,  I  know,  of  instincts,  of  wants,  even  of 
sentiments  ;  it  takes  account  of  the  altruistic  ten- 
dency, as  it  calls  it  in  its  barbaric  language  :   but, 


70  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

brethren,  is  that  duty?  Dutj^  is  neither  an  in- 
stinct, a  want,  a  sentiment,  nor  a  tendency  ;  it  is 
an  absolute  rule,  the  expression  of  the  necessary 
connection  between  an  intelligent  being  and  its 
supreme  law.  It  is  either  so  or  not.  If  Positivism 
wishes  to  use  the  exact  sense  of  the  word,  let  it 
first  tell  us  of  the  supreme  end  of  liberty.  Its 
principles  will  defend  it.  Experience  and  observa- 
tion, to  which  it  pretends  to  reduce  everything, 
cannot  go  beyond  the  limited  circle  of  matter  ;  and 
whoso  wishes  to  come  at  the  final  aim  of  man 
and  his  liberty  of  action,  must  have  the  wise 
audacity  to  overstep  by  reason  the  domain  of  ex- 
perience— it  must  recognize  the  soul  and  confess  a 
God. 

Before  this  boldness  Positivism  recoils.  But, 
my  brethren,  when  duty  and  moral  obligation  are 
suppressed  in  the  human  conscience,  what  remains  ? 
When,  instead  of  seeing  in  it  a  reflex  of  the  divine 
law,  its  character  of  absolute  truth  is  taken  away 
to  reduce  it  to  the  level  of  useful  convention,  or  a 
habit  gradually  contracted  by  our  forefathers  and 
become  the  inalienable  inheritance  of  a  race,  again 
I  say,  what  becomes  of  humanity  ?  Give  to  a  man 
thus  despoiled  the  iron  muscle  of  a  beast  of  prey; 
give  him  a  strength  of  will  which  neither  fear, 
suffering,  nor  death  can  abate  ;  give  him  an  intel- 
ligence which  could  scrutinize  the  most  impene- 
trable secrets  of  nature,  and  the  genius  to  divine 
them — you  would  not  have  filled  up  the  void  ;  you 
would  not  have  given  the  man  that  which  is  his 
sole  honour  and  chiefest  glory.     What  matters  the 


POSITIVISM.  71 

vigour  of  muscle,  or  energy  of  character,  or  sub- 
limity of  genius?  That  which  is  required  before 
everything  else  in  human  nature — and  no  one  here 
will  contradict  me  in  this — is  the  sentiment  of 
moral  law,  the  conscience  which  dictates  it,  and  the 
virtue  which  remains  faithful  to  it  even  to  death 
itself. 

This,  brethren,  is  the  secret  of  heroes  and  saints, 
those  firm  yet  gentle  hearts,  the  salvation  of 
nations  in  their  extremity,  the  strength  of  a  worn- 
out  race,  the  glory  of  the  humanity  which  beholds, 
and  the  God  who  created  them. 

When  a  doctrine,  be  it  even  the  most  intelligent 
of  doctrines,  does  not  fear  to  touch  this  holy  ark,  it 
is  superfluous  to  argue  ;  it  is  sufiicient  to  confound 
it,  to  draw  down  upon  it  the  glance  of  the  just, 
that  glance  whose  serenity  condemns  without 
appeal,  and  brands  all  that  would  outrage  con- 
science and  virtue. 

Be  yourselves  those  just  ones,  you  who  have  in 
the  depths  of  your  souls  the  sentiment  of  duty,  and 
that  inexorable  conscience  which  binds  you  to  it 
even  to  martyrdom  ! 

At  the  sight  of  these  ruins  accumulated  with 
such  violence,  you  perhaps  ask  yourselves,  and  I 
ask  it  also  with  you  :  Is  Positivism  a  firmly  united 
system,  and  one  whose  basis  is  solid  ?  Has  it  in  its 
favour  the  logic  of  deduction  ?  If  so,  it  must  be  in 
the  right,  and  we  shall  be  forced  to  acknowledge  its 
power. 

Neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  Positivism  is  in 
flagrant  contradiction  with  its  own  principles. 


72  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

This  system,  in  effect,  admits  tlie  experimental 
alone  as  an  object,  and  recognizes  no  other  facultj^ 
but  experience  and  observation.  All  that  is  out- 
side observed  facts,  all  that  is  not  contained  in 
time  and  space,  that  double  sphere  which  embraces 
all  experience,  is  for  it  abstract  and  without  reality. 
Has  it  not  said  so  ?  "  The  absolute  is  a  chimera  ; 
if  it  exists  it  is  beyond  our  reach."  And  the 
decisive  reason  it  invokes  for  proscribing  meta- 
physic  and  theodicy  is  that  both  have  the  absolute 
as  their  object. 

If,  then,  it  is  proved  that  on  its  own  showing,  by 
experimenting  and  observing  that  matter  to  which 
it  would  limit  us,  it  leaves  the  relative  and  touches 
upon  the  absolute  ;  if  it  is  demonstrated  that  it 
works  by  means  of  the  absolute,  will  it  not  be  placed 
in  full  contradiction  with  itself?  That  is  just  the 
j)oint  I  wish  to  bring  forward.  What  is  the 
absolute  ?  There  are  no  two  ways  of  taking  it  :  it  is 
that  which  is  of  itself,  immutable,  necessary,  with- 
out condition  of  time  and  place,  that  which  has 
been,  which  is,  and  which  will  be.  Now,  the  nature 
of  human  intelligence  is  such,  that  it  cannot  judge 
of  and  comprehend  the  contingent  and  variable  but 
by  the  aid  of  the  necessary,  the  immutable,  the 
eternal.  It  is  impossible  to  experiment  upon 
matter  without  by  experience  you  employ  absolute 
principles.  You  must  employ  mathematics,  as 
you  want  to  count,  to  measure,  to  weigh,  and  to 
calculate.  Now,  the  principles  of  mathematics,  of 
algebra,  of  geometry,  and  of  dynamics,  are  some- 
thing absolute  and  unconditional  ;  they  are  above 


POSITIVISM.  73 

time  and  space,  outside  all  experience,  and  it  is 
needless  to  have  proved  them  in  all  time  and  all 
space  to  be  certain  of  their  immutable  truths.  You 
require  logic  ;  then  the  logical  principles  of  identity 
and  contradiction  which  govern  our  intelhgence  in 
the  smallest  experimental  labour  are  immutable 
and  absolute  :  they  belong  to  the  very  essence  of 
thought.  You  require  ontological,  that  is,  meta- 
physical principles.  We  believe  in  an  order,  a  law 
which  regulates  all  the  phenomena  of  nature  ;  and, 
without  having  proved  it  even,  we  know  that 
neither  this  order  will  fail  nor  this  law  belie  itself. 
It  is  absolute.  "We  believe  in  the  principle  of 
causality,  we  know  that  given  such  and  such  a 
cause,  such  and  such  an  effect  must  follow  ;  and  if 
by  any  chance,  the  conditions  remaining  identical, 
the  result  is  not  the  same,  we  judge  our  ex- 
perience defective,  and  rectify  by  the  absolute 
principle  of  causality  that  experience  to  which 
Positivism  would  lead  and  subordinate  everything. 
Therefore  there  is  something  else  besides  ex- 
periment and  phenomena.  All  experiments,  as 
you  have  seen,  presuppose  absolute  principles 
which  throw  a  light  upon,  and  at  need  correct 
them.  Therefore  when  Positivism  affirms  that 
experiment  is  everything,  and  makes  use  on  its  own 
showing  of  absolute  principles  which  govern  it, 
Positivism  contradicts  itself.  One  may  excuse 
everything  in  a  system  ;  one  may  in  the  name  of 
logic  even  forgive  absurdity  ;  but  a  system  in 
contradiction  with  its  own  principles  stands  self- 
accused. 


74  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

Positivism    well    recognizes    this    extremity  to 
which   a  severe   examination   can  reduce   it.     All 
those  mathematical,  logical,  and  ontological  axioms 
which  are  the  very  essence  of  reason  have  been  put 
before  it  :  that  absolute  which  incommodes  it,  and 
from  which  it  cannot  free  itself,  has  been  cast  in  its 
teeth.    *'  It  is  merely  provisionary,"  is  the  reply. 
"  We   construct   an  edifice,  and  the  principles  of 
which    you    speak    are    merely    the    scaffolding, 
observed   and  classified  facts  are  the  monument. 
The  work  once  accomplished,  the  scaffolding  falls 
and  the   monument   alone   remains."     Positivism 
deceives  itself,  it  confounds  the   scaffolding   with 
the  genius  of  the  architect,  and  the  mould  of  the 
statue  with  the  ideal  of  the  sculptor.     What  is  this 
which  is  provisionary  but  lasts  for  ever  ?     Tliese 
principles  and  axioms,  are  they  not  my  very  reason 
itself?     To    suppress    them  would  it   not   be    to 
annihilate  it  ?     One  must  be  singularly  determined 
to  regard  everything  from  the  lowest  point  of  view 
not   to   comprehend  that  the   first    principles    of 
reason  are  but  a  reflex  of  the  living  substantial  and 
personal  absolute  which  alone  can  explain  them. 
This  absolute  is  the  terror  of  Positivism  ;  it  would 
rather  contradict  itself  than  recognize  a  God  ;  we, 
vanquished  by  the  truth,  would  rather  recognize 
God  than  contradict  ourselves. 

This  attitude  will  foreshadow  to  you,  brethren, 
the  doctrinal  tenets  of  Positivism  ;  it  is  on  this  last 
point  that  it  will  now  be  necessary  to  examine  it. 

Every  system  is  a  living  organism.     It  has  a 


POSITIVISM.  75 

peculiarity  which  in  characterizing  it  reveals  its 
genius.  If  you  allow  j^ourself  to  be  persuaded  by 
is  title  you  will  only  see  in  Positivism  a  system 
very  positive  in  its  aim  and  very  positive  in  its 
method.  The  title  is  deceptive.  I  alwaj^s  distrust 
those  names  given  to  doctrines  ;  they  too  often  hide 
what  they  ought  to  reveal. 

Go  beyond  appearances,  sift  well  this  theory 
which  gives  itself  out  to  be  the  highest  achieve- 
ment of  our  intellectual  maturity,  and  what  will 
you  find  ?  First  of  all,  materialism.  Materialism 
consists  in  recognizing  nothing  as  real  but  matter, 
consequently  it  denies  the  soul's  existence.  Now, 
Positivism,  by  virtue  of  its  own  principles,  cannot 
overstep  the  circle  of  matter  and  raise  itself  to  the 
consideration  of  a  soul.  "  I  do  not  assert  the 
soul's  existence,"  it  will  tell  you,  "  and  I  do  not 
deny  it  :  I  abstain  from  the  word  and  am  indifferent 
to  the  thing."  What  matters  this  plea  of  non- 
admission?  Whoever  affirms  that  there  is  no 
other  means  of  perceiving  but  by  experience  must 
hold  as  non-existent  all  that  goes  beyond  it.  It  is 
proved,  then,  that  for  Positivists  limited  to  ex- 
perimental Science  the  soul  is  an  empty  word.  In- 
deed, do  they  not  say  so  in  their  books  ?  Open  their 
dictionaries  and  read  :  "  The  soul  is  only  the  con- 
junction of  the  functions  of  the  brain  and  the 
marrow."  Do  you  hear  this,  brethren.  Taking 
that  matter  which  is  called  the  nervous  substance, 
observing  that  to  this  matter  are  attached  certain 
phenomena  of  vitality  and  sensibility,  the  Posi- 
tivists concede  that  there  is  a  soul,  in  the  sense 


76  SCIENCE   WITHOUT   GOD. 

that  the  brain  and  the  spinal  marrow  exercise 
certain  functions  which  have  been  placed  under 
the  heading  of  the  word  soul.  And  they  think 
after  that  to  escape  from  the  reproach  of  material- 
ism !  For  my  part  I  see  but  one  difference  between 
the  two  doctrines  :  on  the  one  side  frankness,  on 
the  other  dissimulation.  It  is  better  to  have  error 
without  cloak,  than  these  hypocritical  sophisms 
that  seem  ashamed  of  themselves,  and  wear  a 
mask  to  deceive  the  better.  This  is  not  all  :  it  is 
atheistic.  Directly  experience  is  put  forward  as 
the  exclusive  principle,  one  is  in  atheism.  God 
cannot  be  experimented  on  or  tested,  any  more 
than  the  soul  can.  The  soul  transcends  that 
matter  which  serves  as  its  organ.  God  transcends 
all  phenomena  whose  multitude  and  variety  compose 
the  universe.  And  in  the  same  way  that  Posi- 
tivism is  compelled  to  deny  the  soul — as  its  method 
cannot  touch  it — so  is  it  forced  to  suppress  God. 
"  But  no  !  "  it  cries.  "  I  don't  deny  God.  I  don't 
affirm  Him.  I  don't  concern  myself  about  Him." 
Do  you  see  how  it  escapes  ?  The  materialist 
denies,  the  sceptic  doubts,  the  Positivist  evades. 
The  first  says,  "God  is  not,"  or  "God  is  but  matter." 
The  second,  "  I  don't  know."  It  says,  "  I  neither 
deny  nor  affirm."  "  What  do  you  do  then  ?"  "I 
abstain."  "Very  well  :  but  know  that  to  abstain 
is  the  hypocrite's  way  of  denying."  You  are  worse 
than  materialists,  worse  if  possible  than  atheists  : 
you  are  the  very  destroyers  of  reason.  On  the 
pretext  of  strengthening  it  on  its  base  you  have 
brought  it  down  to  the  level  of  matter.     You  have 


POSITIVISM.  77 

tanglit  it  to  doubt  that  movement  by  which  it  falls 
back  upon  itself  and  the  impetus  which  transports 
it  heavenward  to  seek  for  its  origin.  And  it  is  you 
that  have  begun  this  dark  age  in  which  enfeebled 
intelligence  turns  to  experimentalism,  and  will 
behold  nothing  but  facts  and  the  laws  of  facts. 

Materialism,  atheism,  scepticism,  that  is  what, 
logically,  Positivism  implies.  But,  brethren,  it 
will  not  even  say  so  frankly.  No,  it  must  keep  to 
the  very  end  its  dissimulation.  Let  us  tear  off  the 
mask,  and  treat  it  for  what  it  is.  What  is  this 
prudishness  in  error  ?  Whoso  refuses  to  see  in 
thought  anything  else  but  a  property  of  the  nervous 
tissue  denies  the  soul  ;  whoso  will  not  confess  God, 
denies  Him  ;  whoso  will  not  make  use  of  total 
reason,  denies  reason  :  it  is  whole,  or  it  does  not 
exist.  If  Positivism  is  true,  God  and  the  soul  must 
be  declared  unknowable,  inaccessible  ;  if  it  is  false, 
let  us  declare  it  as  such  and  let  not  inattentive 
souls  believe  it.  Let  us  charge  straight  at  the 
enemy,  and  no  longer  allow  it  in  the  name  of  Science 
to  make  a  void  in  heaven  by  banishing  God- 
exorcising  Him  as  it  blasphemously  declares.  God 
gone,  truth  also  goes,  genius  is  eclipsed,  right  is 
withered,  justice  dies,  and  virtue  follows  these 
divine  exiles.  What  remains  ?  Man.  But  man 
reduced  to  animality,  a  sort  of  learned  dog,  who 
knows  how  to  read,  to  classify,  and  to  perpetuate 
itself;  to  whom  one  asks  whence  he  comes,  and 
who  answers  you,  "  I  don't  know  ;  " — whither  he 
goes,  and  who  answers,  "  What  does  it  matter  ?  " — 
who  he  is — and  who,  to  resolve  the  problem,  seeks, 


78  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

bent  towards  the  earth  to  which  he  has  debased 
himself,  ties  of  relationship  with  the  animals,  in- 
stead of  raising  his  head  to  discover  in  the  Infinite 
titles  of  divine  affiliation. 

Brethren,  we  have  condemned  Positivism,  it  re- 
mains for  us  to  confound  it. 

Would  3'OU  believe  it,  this  strange  doctrine  which 
is,  being  defined,  the  negation  of  God  and  the  soul, 
pretends  to  have  its  religion,  and  wishes  to  adore 
something  :  so  difficult  is  it  to  restrain  that  longing 
to  worship  which  is  the  very  essence  of  our  nature. 
And  do  you  know  what  certain  Positivists,  the  most 
fervent  and  mystic  of  the  sect,  have  worshipped  ? 
Do  you  know  what  they  offer  to  the  worship  of 
adepts  ?  God  ?  the  human  soul  ?  they  have  denied 
both.  What  then  can  they  put  on  an  altar  ?  Only 
matter  remains,  and  that  humanity  which  proceeds 
from  it.  They  take  this  matter  and  this  humanity 
and  say.  Here  is  our  God  !  What  !  this  material- 
ized humanity,  going  about  in  darkness  on  the 
surface  of  a  planet,  covered  in  rags,  made  up  of 
misery  and  vice,  of  egotism  and  ferocity  ;  or  this 
other  joyful  humanity,  not  less  miserable,  all  en- 
grossed by  its  feasts  and  pleasures  :  it  is  that  that 
we  must  salute  as  God  ?  Never  !  Even  if  human- 
ity had  all  Science  as  guide,  I  would  not  worship  it  : 
for  human  Science  is  fallible.  If  it  had  all  strength 
for  its  sceptre,  I  would  not  worship  it  ;  for  strength 
is  tyrannical.  If  humanity  had  every  virtue  as  its 
nimbus,  I  would  not  worship  it  !  one  can  worship 
nothing  created. 


POSITIVISM.  79 

What  humanity  can  you  present  for  the  adora- 
tion of  man  ?  Ah,  I  have  just  told  you — humanity 
without  God.  It  has  money,  it  is  true  ;  and  power 
and  pleasure,  Science  even,  and  indefinite  pro- 
gress, but  without  God  it  will  never  be  but  dust  and 
filth. 

Yes,  man  without  God,  this  is  the  god  enthroned 
in  this  unhappy  land.  If  she  succumbs  in  despair 
it  is  because  she  is  enslaved  before  this  shameful 
altar — if  she  is  agitated  by  nameless  convulsions 
it  is  because  she  is  seized  with  the  chill  of  death 
under  the  shadow  of  that  idol  !     Let  me  break  it  ! 

Positivism  will  disavow  it,  perhaps,  and  say  this 
is  not  what  she  dreamed.  That  is  possible,  but  it  is 
none  the  less  her  work.  And  besides,  is  there  so 
great  a  distance  between  her  ideal  humanity  with 
which  it  began,  and  that  vile  humanity  with  which 
it  ends  ? 

As  we  must  adore  something,  let  us  not  adore 
what  is  inferior  nor  what  is  degraded.  Let  us 
adore  nothing  human,  nothing  created.  Adore  the 
Eternal  God  who  through  love  took  upon  Himself 
in  Jesus  Christ  a  flesh  without  spot  and  was  cruci- 
fied for  us.  He  broke  all  bonds  ;  He  freed  our 
people  and  our  race  ;  He  raised  up  the  most  noble 
sentiments  and  the  most  heroic  virtues  ;  He  made 
this  land  :  while  the  god  which  they  would  give  us 
disorganizes,  dishonours,  and  kills  it. 

Continue  in  this  sacrilegious  worship,  and  pre- 
pare to  die.  We  are  already  very  low.  At  the 
foot  of  this  vile  and  funereal  altar  we  already  devour 
each  other.     This  grim  feast  will  soon  be  consum- 


80  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

mated.  0  Gocl,  permit  it  not  !  Let  this  doctrine  of 
nothingness  pass  away  like  some  unhealthy  vapour. 
Let  Thy  truth,  0  God,  reappear  amongst  us  to  save 
this  people  that  is  dying,  because  it  loves  Thee 
not  :  and  that  loves  Thee  not,  because  it  knows 
Thee  not. 


SECOND   DISCOUESE. 
matebialism. 

Beethren, 

Positivism  ventures  to  say  to  man, 
hungering  for  God,  "  Thy  reason  is  only  capable 
of  exploring  matter.  To  go  away  from  experience 
is  to  leave  reason  behind.  If  God  exists,  what 
does  it  matter  to  thee  ?  Those  paths  which  lead 
to  God  are  closed  to  thee."  But,  my  brethren, 
one  cannot  thus  suppress  the  growth  of  a  living 
being,  and  in  the  name  of  man's  most  sacred 
aspiration,  in  the  name  of  morality,  in  the  name 
even  of  Science,  we  have  rejected  this  impotent 
doctrine.  It  would  seem  that  the  road  should  now 
be  open  to  us,  and  that  we  can,  unfettered,  search 
after  the  Infinite.  Not  so.  A  system,  the  brother  of 
Positivism,  arrests  us.  This  one  does  not  destroy 
the  path,  he  opens  it  wide  ;  he  does  not  ascend, 
he  descends  ;  he  does  not  seek  for  the  cause  from 
above,  he  persistently  places  it  beneath  ;  he  con- 
founds the  starting  point  with  the  principle,  that 
which  begins  with  that  which  produces,  matter 
with  thought,  the  atom  with  God.  He  does  not 
say,  "In  the  beginning  was   the  Word,  and  the 

G 


82  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

Word  was  God  ;  "  he  says,  "  In  the  beginning  was 
the  atom,  and  the  atom  is  God."  * 

Question  this  system  a  Httle. 

"  What  exists  ?  "  Matter.  Is  there  anything 
outside  matter  ?  Nothing.  Is  there  no  God  ? 
No.  Then  all  that  is,  is  matter  ?  You  have  said 
it  :  matter  is  the  real  God.  It  is  eternal,  in- 
destructible in  its  forces,  in  perpetual  movement, 
and  undergoing  wondrous  changes  in  its  mobile 
form.  And  man,  whence  comes  he  ?  From  matter. 
Whither  does  he  go  ?  To  matter.  Has  he  a  soul  ? 
No.  Is  he  immortal  ?  No.  Then  he  ends  ? 
After  some  few  years.  But  intelligence  ?  A 
secretion  of  the  brain.  Liberty?  An  illusion; 
everything  is  predestined.  Virtue  ?  A  calcula- 
tion, a  mere  suggestion  of  interest.  Devotion  ?  I 
don't  know  what  you  mean  :  an  affair  of  interest, 
a  fortunate  passion. 

You  shudder,  brethren.  Well,  this  is  Materialism 
— this  is  it  without  exaggeration.  Materialists 
themselves,  if  there  are  any  here,  will  have  the 
loyalty  to  recognize  it.  Behold  it  in  its  naked 
brutality,  despoiled  of  the  artifice  of  language,  of 
all  scientific  apparel,  isolated  from  those  facts 
whose  novelty  and  able  assistance  dupe  and  dazzle 
unreflective  minds.  What  more  is  needed  to  con- 
demn it  in  the  name  of  simple  common  sense  ? 
Nevertheless,  I  will  do  it  the  honour  of  a  less 
summary  discussion  and  a  more  profound  refuta- 
tion. 

*  "  The  atom,"  says  M.  Biicliner,  "or  the  most  minute  indi. 
visible  and  fundamental  part  of  matter,  is  the  God  to  whom  the 
highest  and  lowest  existence  owes  its  being. — "  Force  and  Matter." 


MATERIALISM. 


83 


Every  doctrine  implies  three  elements  :  prin- 
ciple, deduction,  and  practical  consequence.  The 
principle  must  be  clear;  the  deductions  logical; 
the  consequence  moral.  Now,  brethren,  Material- 
ism is  without  clearness  in  its  principles,  illogical 
in  its  deductions,  and  immoral  in  its  consequences  ; 
I  will  prove  it.  It  is  necessary  that  its  cause 
should  be  well  heard  and  conscientiously  judged. 
It  is  rampant  in  this  country.  Many  men  have 
mutilated  their  reason,  thinking  to  enfranchise  it  ; 
but  many  more  have  turned  to  matter,  and, 
fascinated  by  it,  have  buried  there  their  soul  and 
their  God.  There  is  only  a  school  of  positivists, 
there  is  a  whole  nation  of  Materialists. 

They  are  scarcely  worthy  of  pity,  these  little 
minds  whose  soul  is  too  great  a  burden  for  them  ; 
these  unnatural  sons  who,  in  a  henceforth  empty 
heaven,  desire  neither  a  Father  nor  a  God.  Their 
errors  engender  corruption  and  stir  up  revolt.  You 
are  indignant,  brethren;  I,  a  priest,  pity  them. 
You  would  punish,  I  would  rather  heal  them  ;  and, 
in  the  very  depths  of  my  soul,  I  find  for  those  who 
bear  the  torch  and  lead  the  work  of  corruption, 
more  commiseration  than  anger  or  contempt. 

And,  first  of  all,  behold  the  principles  of  Material- 
ism, the  apparently  unshakable  basis  of  a  system 
which  requires  from  our  treacherous  senses  a  truth 
which  reason  alone  can  reveal  to  us.  "  There  is 
only  matter  and  force.  No  matter  without  force, 
and  no  force  without  matter.  Matter  and  force 
are  haseparable.  Nothing  is  destroyed,  nothing  is 
created  ;  that  which  is  has  always  been,  that  which 


84  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

has  been  will  always  be.  Force  and  matter  are 
eternal." 

What  more  vague  and  arbitrary,  more  hypo- 
thetical and  ill-founded  ?  You  shall  convince  your- 
selves of  this.  This  matter,  which  Materialism 
thinks  it  knows  so  well,  and  to  which  it  has 
recourse  to  explain  everything,  is  itself  enwrapped 
in  an  impenetrable  veil  of  mystery,  and  is  all  the 
more  surely  concealed  as  it  appears  to  be  the  more 
easy  to  discover.  What  is  matter?  I  ask  the 
most  expert  Materialist,  the  most  competent  modern 
Science  ;  certes,  it  has  every  right  to  answer  me, 
this  Science  which  explores  matter  with  such 
ability,  and  with  a  zeal  and  constancy  which  the 
defenders  of  Faith  may  justly  envy. 

Matter  is  that  which  is  felt,  is  seen,  is  palpable, 
is  weighed,  and  is  measured.  Here  is  a  mineral  ; 
you  look  at  it,  you  find  it  a  certain  colour.  Very 
good.  You  weigh  it,  you  find  it  a  certain  weight. 
Very  good.  You  analyze  it  in  your  crucible,  you 
make  the  elements  of  which  it  is  composed  declare 
themselves  :  a  simple  body  called  carbon,  a  simple 
body  called  oxygen.  Very  good.  You  take  some 
water  ;  you  analyze  it,  you  declare  it  to  be  composed 
of  hydrogen  and  oxygen  in  strictly  determined  pro- 
portions, and  you  think  you  have  the  secret  when 
you  say.  Water  is  burnt  and  oxydized  hydrogen. 
Very  good.  You  say  of  this,  it  is  an  element  ; 
of  that,  it  is  an  acid  ;  of  this  crystalline  substance, 
it  is  a  salt.  Good.  But,  my  brethren,  up  to  this 
what  have  you  done?  You  have  simply  verified 
subjective  phenomena  produced  upon  you  by  an 


MATERIALISM.  85 

exterior  cause,  of  whose  nature  you  are  still  ab- 
solutely ignorant.  You  have,  first  of  all,  considered 
a  colour.  Colour  is  not  external  to  you  ;  it  is  in 
you  :  yellow,  red,  and  blue  are  simple  modifications 
of  our  sensibility  ;  their  cause  alone  is  objective. 
And  even,  to  speak  exactly,  the  objects  have 
precisely  every  colour  but  that  which  our  senses 
lend  them.  It  is  thus  with  taste,  with  heat,  and 
with  cold.  Isolate  the  objects  from  the  sensation 
they  produce,  and  by  what  do  they  make  known 
their  action  and  presence,  what  remains  to  them  ? 
Their  weight.  But  what  is  weight  ?  A  resistance, 
a  movement  in  antagonism  with  yom'self.  What 
is  a  movement?  Primarily  this  supposes  a  force, 
experience  has  not  yet  verified  it;  and  what 
becomes  of  matter  if  you  identify  it  with  force  ? 

Thus  you  see  yourself  obliged  to  take  from 
matter  one  by  one  those  attributes  with  which  you 
benevolently  invested  it,  and  by  means  of  which 
you  flattered  yourself  you  would  know  it.  But 
when  you  have  thus  despoiled  it  of  those  qualities 
which  are  in  yourself,  of  cold  and  heat,  sound, 
light,  weight,  movement,  purely  subjective  sensa- 
tions, again,  what  remains  ?  The  "  I  don't  know  " 
of  Fénélon,  "  which  crumbles  in  the  hand  as  you 
press  it."  Thus,  what  these  superficial  minds 
imagine  to  be  the  clearest,  is  in  reality  the  most 
dense. 

There  remains  at  least  extension,  you  will  say. 
Let  us  see  if  extension  is  not  itself  a  formation  of 
our  mind,  a  relative  manner  of  considering  things. 
Kant  has  affirmed  it  :  is  it  easy  to  refute  this  sue- 


86  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD, 

cessfully  ?  Extension  of  matter  presupposes  atoms  ; 
if  atoms  are  not  simple,  of  what  are  they  themselves 
composed  ?  If  they  are  simple,  how  do  they  explain 
extension  ?  Well,  I  concede  you  the  objective 
reality  of  extension,  I  also  concede  movement  and 
impenetrability.  You  think,  perhaps,  that  you  have 
now  grasped  intangible  matter  ?  Take  care,  these 
attributes  will  confound  each  other  ;  extension 
supposes  the  impenetrability  of  the  atom,  and  im- 
penetrability supposes  movement  ;  for  it  cannot 
be  conceived  without  resistance,  and  resistance 
implies  movement.  Thus  nothing  remains  but  a 
thing  capable  of  movement,  otherwise  a  force. 
"What  force  ? 

Is  this  clear?  You  have  listened  to  me,  brethren, 
with  an  attention  which  astonishes  me,  and  for 
which  I  thank  you.  What  have  you  beheld  ?  The 
transformation  of  matter  into  force.  Having  made 
an  abstraction  of  the  subject  considered,  we  have 
just  convinced  ourselves  that  there  is  in  matter 
neither  heat,  cold,  light,  obscurity,  sound,  nor 
silence.  There  remains,  Science  itself  proclaims, 
but  motion,  and  a  grand  mechanism  which  wisely 
determines  its  laws  and  conditions. 

But  if  matter  is  identical  with  force,  what 
becomes  of  Materialism,  which  pretends  to  oppose 
the  one  to  the  other  ?  What  becomes  of  its  famous 
principle  of  their  inseparable  union  ?  A  pure 
tautology  !  Are  systems,  then,  founded  upon 
tautologies? 

I  have  insisted  upon  these  preliminaries  because 


MATERIALISM.  87 

Materialism  is  most  careful  in  defining  its  prin- 
ciples. Turn  to  those  books  which  teach  it  ;  they 
will  solemnly  assure  you  that  force  and  matter 
are  united.  You  ask  in  vain  what  are  matter  and 
force — they  will  not  deign  to  answer  you.  They 
prove  by  this  calculated  silence  that  the  starting- 
point  of  their  theory  is  obscure,  and  that  they 
wish  to  make  use  of  this  obscurity  to  the  benefit 
of  the  cause.  That  is  why,  when  one  wishes  to 
vanquish  a  doctrine,  one  must  at  all  cost  exact 
a  clear  definition  of  its  principles. 

What  is  that  force  which,  according  to  the 
Materialists,  is  always  united  with  matter?  There 
are  four  forces  in  the  world.  Mechanical  force, 
which  you  prove  every  day  and  every  hour  ;  it 
comes  into  play  with  the  least  muscular  action. 
Physico-chemical  force,  evidenced  in  the  com- 
bination and  decomposition  of  bodies.  Vital  force, 
shown  in  every  organized  living  being.  Spiritual 
force,  that  of  thought  and  free  will,  of  which  we 
all  are  conscious. 

Of  which  force  do  the  Materialists  speak  ?  Of 
spiritual  ?  It  is  false.  There  are  beings  who  do 
not  think,  who  have  no  free  will.  Of  vital  force  ? 
It  is  false.  Certain  things  have  no  life.  Of 
mechanical  ?  It  is  contestable.  Of  what  force 
then  ?  The  only  one  which  cannot  be  contested 
is  physico-chemical  force.  I  concede,  then,  to 
Materialism  this  limited  and  defined  starting  point. 
I  accord  it  an  extended  matter  and  a  physico- 
chemical  force.      If  that   is  its   meaning   I  have 


88  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

cleared  up  what  it  sets  forth  as  a  fundamental 
dogma. 

But  before  going  further  let  us  see  what  there 
is  arbitrary  and  hypothetical  in  this  dogma. 

What  has  told  the  Materialists  that  this  force 
and  this  matter  are  eternal  ?  Experience  ?  It 
is  not  in  a  position  to  fathom  Eternity,  even  to 
speak  of  it.  Chained  to  time  and  space  it  cannot 
depart  from  them.  We  have  been  present,  it  is  true, 
at  no  creation,  or  total  destruction,  but  what 
matter?  Is  it  a  condition  of  the  truth  of  things 
that  man  must  have  witnessed  their  birth  in  his 
crucibles,  or  put  them  in  the  field  of  his  telescopes  ? 
It  is  by  these  vague  gratuitous  hypotheses  that 
Materialism  has  sought  to  find  an  answer  to  every 
thing.  Let  us  see  it  at  work  :  you  will  soon  see 
what  a  breach  it  makes  in  reason,  and  what 
becomes  in  its  hands  of  the  principle  of  causality, 
that  all-powerful  lever  with  which  human  intelli- 
gence raises  the  world  of  the  unknown. 

It  is  a  prodigious  work  that  which  a  system 
undertakes  whose  professed  doctrine  is  to  explain 
the  universality  of  beings.  Positivism  is  more 
prudent  ;  it  takes  care  to  explain  nothing.  The 
Materialist  is  more  daring  ;  he  disdains  the  per- 
fidious timidity  of  the  positivist.  "  I  admit  only 
matter,"  says  he,  "and  its  mechanical  and  physico- 
chemical  forces.  With  that  I  explain  every  thing — 
the  origin,  the  end,  and  the  law  of  the  universe. 
No  mysteries  for  me.  I  know  how  things  begin, 
how  they  develop,  where  they  end."  You  will  say 
this  pretension   seems  exorbitant.      Well,  open   a 


MATEKIALISM.  89 

Materialistic  book,  you  will  see  that  it  is  a  formal 
one.  Does  the  result  answer  to  these  ambitious  pre- 
tensions ?     I  will  make  you  the  judges,  brethren. 

If  matter  was  motionless,  the  task  of  the 
Materiahst  would  be  easy.  He  would  only  have 
to  say,  "  Matter  is  :  it  persists  in  the  immutability 
of  its  forces,  and  the  uniformity  of  a  time  which 
measures,  without  adding  to  it."  Man  proves  it. 
Why  should  he  seek  for  more  ?  Certainly  where 
there  is  no  progressive  evolution  there  is  nothing 
new  ;  where  there  is  nothing  new,  there  is  nothing 
to  stimulate  the  intelligence  of  man  and  provoke 
his  curiosity.  But  matter  moves  ;  it  develops  ; 
and  Science,  in  clearing  up  the  past  in  which  ages 
count  but  as  minutes,  where  used-up  worlds  have 
cast  their  débris,  penetrates  also  the  future,  it  sees 
that  which  will  be  as  that  which  has  been  ;  and 
its  prophetic  glance  envelops  matter  in  the  inde- 
fatigable unfolding  of  its  growing  creations.  It  is 
first  of  all  a  formless  chaos.  Whether  you  observe 
it  in  the  immensity  of  the  heavens  where  it  escapes 
our  action,  or  whether  you  analyze  it  in  the  delicate 
crucibles,  in  which  you  can  crush  it  for  an  instant, 
to  oblige  it  to  follow  its  inevitable  laws,  and  tell 
you  the  names  of  its  hidden  forces,  matter  diffuse 
and  shadowy  soon  submits  to  the  mechanical, 
physical,  or  chemical  force  inherent  to  its  nature. 

See  over  your  head  this  immense  nebula,  this 
magma  splendid  with  fu-e  and  light.  Suddenly  a 
point  of  concentration  is  formed  in  this  mass  ;  it 
is  the  embryon  of  a  solar  system.  Here  is  a  centre. 
This  cosmic  mass  reorganizes  and  rearranges  itself. 


90  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

Other  points  of  concentration  arise  in  its  midst  which 
operate  with  the  same  energy.  By  virtue  of  gravita- 
tion and  universal  attraction  these  divers  centres 
separate  according  to  their  density  and  their  mass, 
and  they  describe  around  each  other  those  gigantic 
orbits  whose  laws  constitute  the  dynamics  of  heaven. 

Look  closer  to  you,  in  your  crucible.  This  is 
no  longer  the  infinitely  great,  but  the  infinitely 
small  :  no  longer  suns,  but  molecules  and  impon- 
derable atoms.  Imperceptible  elements  are  joined 
in  definite  and  multiple  i^roportion,  and  in  invariable 
quantities.  Always  the  same  quantity  of  oxygen 
combined  with  the  same  quantity  of  hydrogen  or 
carbon.  To  these  inevitable  laws  matter,  whatever 
its  dimensions,  is  never  disobedient.  Under  their 
empire  explosive  gases  are  restrained  ;  liquids  of  un- 
stable equilibrium  round  their  sm-face  ;  and  solids 
commence,  by  deposit,  that  marvel  which  is  called 
the  world  of  crystals.  Always  and  everywhere  mole- 
cules group  themselves  in  regular  and  mysterious 
forms,  as  though  a  multitude  of  geometers  pulled 
them  by  a  cord,  in  order  that  in  all  their  fairy 
combinations  the  atoms  should  not  stray  from  the 
ideal  line  they  have  to  follow. 

Suns  roll  in  space  in  splendid  constellation; 
atoms  tremble  in  the  rigid  frame  in  which  mecha- 
nism has  imprisoned  them.  All  at  once,  in  the 
midst  of  these  celestial  worlds  and  surprised  atoms, 
a  living  being  palpitates — a  substance  without 
fixed  form,  floating  undecided,  drawing  to  it  the 
elements  which  it  modifies  and  rejects  after  trans- 
forming them.     Behold  the  protoplasma,  life  in  its 


MATERIALISM.  91 

rudimentary  form.  Soon  living  matter,  composed 
of  hydrogen,  oxygen,  carbon,  and  azote,  is  con- 
densed ;  it  takes  a  centre  and  an  envelope,  it  becomes 
cellular.  The  cellule  is  the  living  being  par  ex- 
cellence. It  is  with  it  that  the  spirit  of  life  works, 
and  in  it  it  rests.  Joined  to  other  cellules,  it 
composes  with  them  all  life,  its  tissues,  organs, 
and  covering.  A  wondrous  architect,  this  simple 
element  suffices  to  build  innumerable  edifices,  chef- 
d'œuvres  of  co-ordination  and  solidity,  which  it 
animates  in  a  moment. 

Matter  lives  at  first  but  as  a  grain.  It  forms 
the  lovely  fleece  of  the  bare  earth,  its  garment 
of  verdure  woven  by  the  hand  of  an  invisible  artist. 
But  do  you  know  what  has  happened  ?  Blind 
forces  arise  here  and  there  ;  the  central  fire  of  the 
planet  ill-contained  bursts  forth  ;  mechanism  enters 
roughly  into  play  ;  the  primitive  flora  is  carbonized 
and  swallowed  up  ;  life  has  capitulated  to  that 
which  has  no  life,  and  that  which  was  a  centre  has 
become  a  tomb.  After  this  first  triumph  of  force, 
life  is  renewed  more  brilliantly  ;  the  earth  is 
covered  with  a  rarer  vegetation.  In  this  less 
burning  dust  under  these  more  firmly  rooted  trees 
animal  life  appears.  Under  the  incessant  and 
progressive  work  of  life  the  nervous  substance 
becomes  elaborated.  It  forms  itself  into  a  singular 
appearance  which  is  called  the  brain.  Thanks  to 
this  powerful  organ,  life  is  not  simply  the  faculty 
of  nourishing  itself,  of  consuming,  and  elaborating 
within  itself  what  it  takes  in  the  exterior  world  ; 
it  is  the  faculty  of  imprinting   in   itself  the  im- 


92  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

material  image  of  things,  of  feeling,  and  of 
knowledge.  This  higher  and  mysterious  life  is, 
nevertheless,  not  the  last  act  of  matter.  One  day 
upon  the  earth,  Science  can  tell  you,  in  the  midst 
of  the  primitive  fauna  and  flora,  the  one  mute,  the 
other  noisy,  both  unconscious,  an  unheard-of 
phenomenon  arrives.  Intelligence  appears.  There 
arrives,  in  all  the  nobility  and  royal  pride  of 
stature,  a  splendid  being  who  names  things,  who 
knows  them,  who  speaks  as  a  master  and  can  lead 
them.  One  sees  the  being  who  thinks,  wills,  and 
is  free — man  ! 

The  animal  has  sensation  ;  man  has  thought. 
The  animal  can  neither  reason  nor  reflect  ;  it  sees 
effects  without  comprehending  the  cause.  Man 
goes  back  to  the  principle,  and  looks  forward  to 
the  consequence.  The  animal  has  but  appetites, 
wants,  and  passions.  Man  possesses  aspirations, 
will,  and  love.  The  animal  is  egotistic  ;  man 
may  be  disinterested.  The  one  is  inevitably  im- 
pelled, the  other  is  master  of  himself  ;  and,  as  he 
belongs  to  himself,  he  can  give  himself  through 
devotion  and  sacrifice,  even  to  death.  Although, 
like  the  animal,  he  touches  matter,  he  is  not 
absorbed  by  it  ;  and  in  him  there  is  the  divine. 
His  thought  is  a  reflex  of  the  Eternal  Intelligence  ; 
his  will  an  impulse  of  the  Infinite  Mind  ;  and  his 
soul  the  image  and  resemblance  of  God.  Upon 
these  heights,  at  this  chef-d'œuvre,  are  arrested  the 
progressive  evolution  of  things,  and  the  marvellous 
Odyssey  of  matter. 

Well,  brethren,  it  is  here  that  I  look  for  Mate- 


MATERIALISM.  93 

rialism.  Matter  is  in  chaos  ;  it  organizes  itself. 
The  infinitely  great  become  constellated,  the  in- 
finitely small  crystallized;  life  germinates,  sensation 
quivers  ;  thought  shines  like  a  new  star  ;  will  is  in 
free  movement  towards  the  Infinite  :  all  is  in  motion 
— Science  proves  it.  Let  Materialism  then  explain 
this  progressive  movement.  Let  us  not  forget  that 
it  admits  only  mechanical,  physical,  or  chemical 
forces.  I  summon  it  to  render  account  of  the 
formation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  of  animal 
and  vegetable  life  ;  I  summon  it  to  render  account 
of  thought,  of  liberty,  and  of  love. 

What  a  task,  my  brothers  !  Is  it  possible  ?  The 
universe  in  its  development,  see  you  not,  moves 
from  the  less  to  the  greater,  from  the  imperfect  to 
the  perfect  ?  Matter  harmonized  in  its  crystalline 
form  is  a  progression  from  chaotic  matter  ;  life  is 
in  progression  from  the  reign  of  brute  force  ;  sensi- 
bility is  in  progression  from  life  ;  thought  and  love 
are  in  progression  from  sensibility.  Now,  it  is 
from  the  starting-point,  from  the  atom,  that  the 
Materialist  pretends  to  take  all  this  progress  !  But 
nothing  comes  from  nothing  :  the  effect  cannot  con- 
tain more  than  the  cause.  What  need  to  reason 
longer.  The  principle  of  causality  imposes  itself 
here  with  such  stern  evidence  that  it  dispenses 
with  all  comment.  To  want  to  produce  the  greater 
from  the  less,  that  which  is  from  that  which  is  not, 
thought  from  matter,  is  to  destroy  this  sovereign 
axiom  ;  and  to  destroy  the  principle  of  causality  is 
to  cast  one's  self  into  the  absurd — to  upset  reason 
itself.     Is  this  the  aim  of  Materialism  ?     Let  it 


94  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

declare  it,  then,  and  stand  condemned.  This 
triumph  is  too  easy— I  disdain  it. 

Let  us  concede  to  the  Materialists  that  one  can 
explain  by  mechanism  the  formation  of  all  brute 
matter,  give  a  reason  for  each  simple  body,  its 
laws  and  infinite  combinations,  reduce  it  all  to 
motion  and  superposition  of  motion  ;  that  the 
vegetable  is  but  an  admirable  instrument,  a  pump 
acted  upon  by  an  invisible  force  to  attract  and 
reject  the  juices  of  which  it  is  composed,  a  still 
constructed  by  an  unequalled  artist  for  the  dis- 
tillation of  perfumes  and  essences.  Is  this  enough? 
Concede  even  that  the  animal  is  a  machine  of  a 
more  complicated  kind.  Descartes  has  said  so 
before  them,  Descartes,  the  proudest  of  metaphy- 
sicians, the  master  of  philosophers. 

Let  us  concede  to  the  great  geometrician,  to  the 
great  mechanician,  to  the  great  psychologist,  that 
those  intelligent  little  dogs  are  but  automatons 
obeying  the  pressure  of  a  secret  spring.  You 
think,  perhaps,  brethren,  that  the  Materialists  will 
triumph,  and  that  my  concessions  have  put  the 
truth  in  danger. 

Eeassure  yourselves.  If  Science  had  reduced 
everything  to  mechanics,  physics,  and  chemistry, 
if  it  had  identified  vegetable  and  animal  life  with 
the  phenomena  and  forces  of  brute  matter,  if  I 
wished  to  force  Materialism  into  its  last  intrench- 
ment,  I  have  but  to  put  this  simple  question  : 
From  whence  does  motion  come  ?  It  will  never 
answer.  And  had  it  by  an  impossibility  found  in 
matter  the  first  cause  of  motion,  it  would  suffice,  to 


MATEKIALISM.  95 

vanquish  it,  to  make  use  of  a  simple  thought,  a 
single  impulse  of  the  will  :  I  reason  ;  I  love  ;  two 
words.  This  is  not  much  ;  but,  nevertheless,  it  is 
enough  to  ruin  the  whole  system  of  Materialism. 
I  reason,  I  compare  two  ideas  and  seize  their 
absolute  connection  ;  I  say,  for  example,  Virtue  is 
heroic  ;  martyrdom  is  a  virtue,  therefore  martyrdom 
is  heroic.  It  is  very  simple.  Or  again  :  Duty  is 
the  law  of  a  free  being  ;  it  is  before  me  ;  I  love  it, 
and  sacrifice  all  to  it.  Brethren,  I  appeal  to  you, 
from  a  mechanical  movement,  from  any  combina- 
tion can  you  ever  product  duty  and  love  ?  Can 
you  say  seriously,  as  the  Materialists  do,  Thought 
is  a  secretion  of  the  brain,  a  result  of  the  phos- 
phorus with  which  that  grey  and  white  substance 
we  carry  under  the  cranium  is  impregnated  ? 
What  !  you  make  out  thought  to  be  the  result  of 
a  merely  mechanical  motion  ?  But  in  order  that  it 
may  be  the  product  of  such  a  principle,  it  must  be 
of  the  same  nature  as  it.  Who  will  uphold  this  ? 
When  I  draw  a  conclusion  do  I  perform  an  act 
of  mechanism?  Do  you  hear  the  sound  of  the 
machinery  ?  have  you  instruments  sufficiently  deli- 
cate to  reveal  its  internal  tick  tick  ?  When  my  will 
is  bowed  before  duty,  or  is  kindled  by  a  violent 
love,  do  I  act  by  machinery  ?  The  saints,  the 
grand  geniuses,  the  heroes,  are  they  all  master- 
pieces of  mechanism  ? 

Allow  me  to  tell  you,  brethren,  when  one  goes 
to  the  bottom  of  things,  and  grasps  those  doctrines 
which  give  themselves  out  as  the  pinnacle  of 
Science,  one  pauses  stupefied  to  find  one's  self  face 


96  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

to  face  with  absurdity,  ashamed  at  being  reduced 
to  refuting  j^rineiples  whose  mere  enunciation  is 
their  peremptory  condemnation  ! 

How,  brethren  !  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  esta- 
bHsh  that  thought  cannot  result  from  mechanical, 
physical,  or  chemical  matter  ?  Why  not  ?  cry  the 
Materialists  ;  if  thought  were  not  the  result  of  these 
combined  forces,  when  the  brain  is  less  would 
thought  be  less  ?  When  the  brain  is  troubled 
would  thought  be  troubled  ?  and  when  there  is  no 
phosphorus  would  thought  be  suppressed  ? 

Brethren,  but  one  word  to  refute  this  objection. 

By  what  right  does  Materialism  confound  con- 
dition with  cause  ?  One,  however,  is  distinct  from 
the  other.  Condition  has  no  direct  influence  on 
the  phenomena  which  depend  upon  it.  Cause,  on 
the  contrary,  engenders  them,  produces  them  from 
itself.  Air  and  a  string  in  vibration  are  the  con- 
ditions necessary  to  the  sensible  manifestation  of 
harmony  :  the  will  is  the  cause.  The  brain  is  the 
condition  of  thought,  not  the  cause.  Does  Material- 
ism wish  to  prove  the  contrary  ?  We  are  ready  to 
hear  it,  and  armed  for  reply  with  the  principle  of 
causality. 

Moreover,  if  the  soul  were  simply  the  result  of 
the  body  and  mechanical  complications,  it  would 
depend  totally  and  absolutely  upon  the  body  ;  why, 
then,  does  it  so  often  subdue  it  ?  The  body  is 
exhausted  :  a  prey  to  the  fires  of  disease,  you  see 
it  disorganize  and  die.  If  the  soul  is  confounded 
with  it,  why  does  it  seem  to  rise  above  this  matter 
in  ruins  ?    Who  has  not  felt  it  take  the  mastery 


MATERIALISM.  97 

and  say  to  the  body  :  "  Fragile  mechanism,  yet  one 
more  effort,  your  master  commands  it.  Your  fibres 
are  listless,  your  elasticity  gone,  but  they  shall  yet 
vibrate  once  more."  Who  has  not  experienced 
this  hour  when,  fully  master  of  itself,  the  soul 
commands  as  sovereign  its  exhausted  body  ? 

I  pity  those  who  have  not  felt  this,  and  I  under- 
stand their  being  Materialists.  But  when  one  has 
had  the  upper  hand,  if  but  for  a  moment,  of  this 
rebellious  matter,  one  becomes  conscious  of  a  force 
superior  to  it,  which  cannot  be  weighed  in  scales, 
which  has  nothing  in  common  with  physical  or 
chemical  energy,  and  which  men  have  called  by  a 
name  that  expresses  nothing  material  :  one  is  con- 
scious of  one's  soul,  in  fact. 

The  doctrinal  work  of  Materialism  is  impossible, 
brethren.  The  pretension  of  explaining  the  entire 
creation  by  mechanism  is  laughable  and  senseless. 
But  men  do  not  start  theories  for  the  mere  plea- 
sure of  so  doing.  One  thinks  to  act,  and  to  give  to 
one's  conduct  a  higher  and  more  firm  direction. 
If,  then,  one  is  a  Materialist,  it  is  not  for  the 
luxury  of  a  witticism  ;  it  is,  above  all,  to  be  able  to 
live  better.  Let  us  see,  then,  the  practical  appli- 
cation of  Materialism. 

I  stigmatize  it  as  an  immoral,  despairing,  and 
servile  doctrine  :  immoral,  as  it  breaks  the  spring 
of  all  progress  ;  despairing,  as  it  can  do  nothing  to 
raise  man  crushed  by  trials  ;  servile,  as  it  engenders 
all  social  and  individual  oppression. 

I  would  not  on  this  point,  brethren,  force  a  con- 

H 


Î8  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

elusion.  We  priests  are  commonly  reproached  with 
always  judging  doctrines  by  their  results,  and  thus 
preparing  for  ourselves  an  easy  triumph.  But  in 
what  respect  is  this  tactic  culjjable  ?  Guardians  of 
every  life  willing  to  raise  itself  Godward,  and  of 
every  conscience  which  will  listen  to  Him,  are  we 
not  obeying  our  divine  mandate  in  forcing  every 
word  to  say  what  it  can  do  to  moralize  or  corrupt 
man  ? 

I  do  not  pretend  that  every  Materialist  is  im- 
moral. Epicurus,  the  head  of  the  school  in 
antiquity,  was  remarkable  for  his  moderation. 
That  astonishes  you.  At  the  name  of  Epicurus, 
you  picture  a  disordered  soul  eager  for  pleasure,  a 
heart  unbridled  in  its  desires,  exhausting  to  satiety 
the  cup  of  intoxication.  No,  brethren,  Epicurus, 
history  relates,  was  temperate  to  refinement — less 
by  virtue  than  by  calculation.  Man  who  enjoys 
without  restraint,  said  he,  is  soon  satiated;  satiated, 
he  is  disgusted  ;  disgusted,  he  despairs.  And  as  a 
wise  Materialist,  Epicurus  measured  out  his  plea- 
sure that  the  source  might  dry  uj)  less  quickly,  and 
remain  more  savoury.  I  do  not  give  him  to  you 
as  an  example  ;  I  cite  him  merely  as  a  proof  that  I 
do  not  ignore  the  calculated  prudence  of  the 
Materialist,  and  do  not  make  use  of  vain  exaggera- 
tions to  refute  him. 

Do  you  wish  to  touch  with  your  finger  the  im- 
morality of  this  theory  ?  Put  Materialism  in  the 
presence  of  man.  Man  longs  to  grow  in  life,  for  he 
is  a  progressive  being.  Now,  to  aid  him  in  his 
magnificent   evolution,  what  must   be   told  him  ? 


MATERIALISM.  99 

You  must  say  to  him,  "  Thou  art  free  !  Thou  hast 
before  thee  both  Hfe  and  death,  equal  master  of 
both.  Wilt  thou  die  ?  thou  hast  the  pickaxe  to 
break  open  thy  tomb."  "  Man  is  in  the  hand  of  his 
counsel,"  says  the  book  of  God  ;  "  life  and  death 
are  before  him,  and  whether  he  liketh,  shall  be 
given  him." 

Ah  !  -when  this  lesson  is  proclaimed  to  a  people 
or  a  race  ;  when  you  can  implant  in  the  heart  of 
individuals  and  of  nations  the  sentiment  of  liberty, 
you  make  of  them  laborious  souls  and  proud 
natures,  a  people  and  a  race  of  heroes,  men  of  in- 
defatigable energy,  holding  the  sword  well,  not  to 
oppress  but  to  protect  the  weak,  not  to  ravish  the 
independence  of  others,  but  to  preserve  their  own. 
They  cannot  be  always  victorious — victory  is  capri- 
cious— they  are  ever  indomitable. 

I  would  like  to  know  the  advice  that  Materialism 
gives  to  the  young  man,  to  the  people,  to  a  race — 
that  which  you  teach,  you  doctors,  I  know  too  well. 
You  preach  the  law  of  matter  ;  you  say  to  the 
young  man,  "  the  temperament  is  powerful  !  "  Ah  ! 
he  knows  it  as  well  as  you.  That  which  you  say 
to  a  people  I  will  tell  you.  You  teach  that  matter 
has  its  laws  !  That  which  you  say  to  the  whole 
world,  you  sages  !  here  it  is  without  adornment  : 
Matter  !  there  is  nothing  but  that.  Matter  !  it  is 
master.  Matter  !  it  is  the  God  to  be  worshipped. 
And  you  think  to  make  with  such  dogmas  a  free 
people,  a  generation  of  heroes,  a  new  world  !  You 
deceive  yourselves.  Materialism  gave  its  proof  in 
Greece  and  Rome  :  to-day,  as  then,  it  will  give  birth 


100  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD 

to  an  enervated  youth  with  no  longer  the  figure  for 
a  soldier — it  could  not  grow  :  which  has  no  more 
blood  in  its  veins — it  has  spent  it  :  which  has  not 
the  strength  to  raise  a  sword— it  has  neither  muscle 
nor  conviction. 

Say  that  I  lie  !  and  prove  to  me  that  Materialism 
is  not  the  supreme  philosophy  of  degenerate  peoples 
and  worn-out  races. 

We  must  not  only  look,  brethren,  at  man  grow- 
ing and  prospering  in  life,  we  must  look  also  at  the 
feeble  being  destined  to  sorrow  and  trial.  Destiny 
is  stern  with  us,  she  has  for  us  sorrows  without 
name,  and .  sufferings  without  number.  Is  there  a 
single  man  who  has  not  suffered?  is  there  a 
woman  who  has  not  wept  bitter  tears  ?  A  young 
being  who  has  not  felt  the  disgust  of  life,  and 
whose  soul  at  the  end  of  its  strength  has  not  cried 
out,  "Who  will  console  me?"  is  there  one? 
Tell  me.  Are  we  not  all  broken  and  suffering? 
Who  will  console  us?  The  earth?  it  is  our 
martyrdom.  Heaven?  it  is  dark  and  obscure. 
What,  then,  your  pleasures  ?  They  torture  me. 
What  will  console  me  ? 

Answer,  Materialists  ! 

Ah  !  I  know  what  you  offer  ;  you  have  given  me 
intoxication — the  intoxication  which  kills.  And  do 
you  not  see  to-day  how  those  console  themselves 
who  can  live  no  longer?  Do  you  not  see  where 
that  crowd  goes  that  the  arrow  of  misery  has 
wounded  ?  Bead  the  chronicle  in  the  list  of 
suicides  ! 

God  forbid  that  I  should  lay  all  these  sinister 


MATEKIALISM.  101 

ends,  these  dark  acts,  upon  the  doctrine  of  Material- 
ism. But  you  can  well  believe  that  when,  armed 
with  dagger  or  revolver,  it  sees  nothing  but  matter, 
it  is  not  God  that  speaks  to  this  despairing  genera- 
tion. No,  when  to-day  it  dies,  it  is  not  God  that 
kills  it,  and  hangs  the  stone  round  its  neck,  that  it 
may  sink  to  the  very  bottom  of  the  abyss.  You  have 
no  consolation,  and  that  is  fatal.  In  these  doctrines 
without  a  soul  there  is  a  despair  without  an  end. 

Would  you  measure,  in  social  and  political  order, 
the  vileness  of  this  illiberal  and  heartless  doctrine  ? 
Man  is  not  born  to  live  alone  ;  he  wishes  to  become 
a  family  and  a  nation.  What  are  necessary  to  a 
family  and  a  nation  ?  Peace  and  liberty,  fruits  of 
virtue  and  justice  and  of  love.  What  can  Material- 
ism give  us  ?  If  the  struggle  for  existence  is  the 
universal  law,  man  is  reduced  to  putting  himself 
into  antagonism  with  his  fellow-men.  Egotism 
becomes  thus  the  first  want  and  the  first  law  ;  and 
the  power  of  the  State  the  only  barrier  to  regulate 
and  restrain  it.  Society  is  no  longer  a  union  of 
free  beings,  it  is  a  group  of  slaves.  By  what  right 
does  Materialism  dare  to  speak  so  much  of  liberty  ? 
Observe  its  current  literature,  and  particularly  the 
political  literatm'e  ;  is  it  not  in  its  mouth  that  the 
word  liberty  is  always  sounding  ?  and  yet  it  denies 
it.  It  is  enough  to  shudder  at  !  Sincerity  before 
all  !  Away  with  liars  and  hypocrites.  If  you  have 
suppressed  a  word  in  jouv  schools,  do  not  cry  it  in 
the  public  places. 

Now,  brethren,  whether  it  wiU  or  no,  Materialism 


102  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

leads  to  servitude.  And  when  you  see  rise  up  in 
a  country  these  doctrines  which  recognize  only  the 
fatal  laws  of  matter,  and  have  room  neither  for  the 
soul  nor  for  liberty,  that  country  is  ripe  for  ser- 
vitude and  every  oppression. 

Ah,  my  brothers,  it  is  not  under  Christ,  under 
the  Catholic  faith,  that  nations  are  enslaved;  it  is 
not,  as  they  are  always  saying,  with  a  pope,  even  an 
infallible  one,  that  consciences  are  enslaved.  Their 
greatest  act  has  been  to  free  them,  especially  from 
the  yoke  of  the  Csesars. 

When  you  see  on  the  contrary,  Materialistic 
doctrines  prevail,  know  that  servitude  is  at  hand 
and  men  are  ripe  for  slavery.  Caesar  approaches 
with  measured  steps,  he  glances  round,  his  legions 
are  on  the  alert,  and  before  long  you  will  be 
crushed  beneath  his  spurred  heels.  When  there  is 
nothing  but  matter,  there  is  but  force,  there  are 
none  but  slaves  ;  and,  truly,  why  should  you  wish 
for  liberty  ? 

But  I  cannot  predict  for  my  country  so  sad  a 
fate  :  France  cannot  be  Materialistic.  There  is  to- 
day a  sort  of  fashion  for  Materialism  ;  but,  be 
assured,  it  is  only  on  the  surface.  Would  you 
know  why  this  must  be  so  ?  Because  France  is 
a  country  of  clear  ideas,  where  logic  exists,  a 
country  where  there  is  a  heart. 

Now  Materialism  is,  as  I  have  shown  you,  obscure 
in  its  principles  ;  illogical  in  its  deductions,  as  I 
have  proved  ;  and,  as  you  have  seen,  without  heart 
in  its  moral  application  as  it  is  without  consolation 
for  practical  life. 


MATEBIALISM.  103 

Whence  bave  sprung  these  Materialistic  ideas 
that  eat  into  us  ?  Why  are  they  in  our  universities, 
our  professions,  our  laboratories,  and  our  amphi- 
theatres ?  Why  have  the  traditions  of  our  great 
philosophers,  of  whom  Descartes  is  the  chief,  been 
obscured  and  silenced?  Why  is  the  philosophy 
which  looks  uj^ward,  and  speaks  of  the  soul  and  the 
Infinite,  silent  before  the  philosophy  which  looks 
only  on  the  ground  and  speaks  to  us  of  matter  and 
its  laws  ? 

Plato  leaves  us,  Epicurus  returns  ;  why  ? 

Why,  brethren? — I  should  not  mix  up  in  this 
place  necessary  truths  with  contingent  facts.  Yet 
let  me — my  faith  and  my  patriotism  cannot  with- 
hold it — let  me  tell  you  that  the  Materialistic  ideas 
came  from  the  other  side  of  the  Ehine  something 
like  twenty  years  ago,  under  the  form  of  a  mist 
which  gilded  the  light  of  Science.  They  passed 
the  stream,  and  our  sky  has  become  darkened  and 
sombre. 

We  became  no  longer  Catholics,  we  turned 
against  our  Church,  we  blushed  for  the  old  man 
who  represents  Christ  amongst  us.  While  losing 
our  faith,  we  did  not  know  how  to  keep  our  native 
intelligence.  We  said  to  this  fog  from  the  Rhine  : 
"  Come,  and  be  our  light  !  " 

And  the  fog  has  increased.  It  was  welcomed  by 
a  great  number  of  our  savants.  They  said,  "  This 
comes  from  Germany;  it  is  beautiful,  it  is  true." 
It  has  penetrated  our  schools  ;  it  weighs  upon  our 
young  generation  like  the  lid  of  a  tomb. 

Brethren,  the  clouds  came  ;  and  after  them  the 


104  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

tempest  of  iBre  and  sword.  The  clouds  came  first, 
the  storm  followed.  Should  I  be  very  illogical  if 
I  had  the  audacity  to  tell  you  that  the  cloud  was 
the  beginning  of  the  storm  ? 

Well,  turn,  you  who  have  certainly  suffered  by 
the  storm  of  fire  and  sword,  repulse  the  clouds,  and 
hasten  to  conjure  up  a  new  tempest. 


THIRD   DISCOURSE. 

atheistic  pantheism. 

Brethren, 

Error  persists  in  closing  to  man  all 
roads  that  lead  him  to  the  Infinite  ;  and  reason, 
•which  wishes  to  tread  those  paths  in  freedom,  finds 
yet  another  system  to  conquer  and  to  combat. 
It  is  not  "without  grandeur  nor  attraction,  and  it 
knows  how  to  mask  with  those  qualities  what  it 
contains  that  is  perfidious  and  disastrous.  It  is 
not  narrow  and  exclusive,  like  positivism;  or  low 
and  vulgar,  like  materialism.  It  does  not  proclaim 
like  the  one  the  superb  pretension  of  correcting 
human  nature — by  mutilating  it  ;  it  is  far  from  the 
cynicism  which  by  its  strange  worship  of  matter 
does  not  blush  to  lower  us  to  the  brute.  It  does 
not  close,  like  the  first,  the  doors  of  the  Ideal  ;  it 
throws  them  open  :  it  does  not,  like  the  second, 
wish  to  reduce  all  to  mechanism  and  geometry  ;  it 
wishes  life  to  be  universal,  and  sees  it  everywhere. 
This  is  Pantheism. 

But  what,  you  will  say,  does  not  Pantheism 
affirm  that  all  is  God,  or  that  God  is  everything  ? 
Then   surely   it   is   not  an  enemy,    it  is  an  ally. 


106  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

Understand  me  :  Pantheism  has  two  decided  and 
opposite  forms;  they  arrive,  I  know,  at  the  same 
result,  hut  they  go  there  by  entirely  contrary  roads. 
The  essence  of  Pantheism  is  confusion,  the  sub- 
stantial identification  of  the  universe  and  God. 
The  word  itself  indicates  with  precision  this  dogma  : 
JJav,  all,  the  universe  ;  Beoç,  God.  The  universe 
is  God.  Now,  there  are  two  ways  of  obtaining 
this  identification  :  one  is  to  absorb  the  universe 
in  God;  it  is  thus  formulated:  God  is  the  uni- 
verse; the  other  is  to  confound  God  in  the 
universe  ;  it  is  thus  formulated  :  The  universe  is 
God.  One  exaggerates  God  to  the  detriment  of 
the  world,  the  other  exaggerates  the  world  to  the 
detriment  of  God.  If  one  seems  to  strengthen 
Deism,  the  other  is  a  declared  atheism.  "What 
do  you  seek  for  outside  and  above  ?  "  it  cries. 
"  There  is  nothing.  God  is  not  the  transcendent 
law,  He  is  the  law  emanating  from  things.  The 
God  you  seek,  insatiable  minds,  warped  intelli- 
gences, is  the  universe  itself;  it  is  you.  Let  it 
suffice  you  !  " 

I  will  not  stay  to  refute  this  first  form  of  Pan- 
theism. It  is  not  to  be  feared,  and  it  is  not  that 
which  tends  to  prevail  in  this  age.  But  if  we 
have  nothing  to  fear  from  mystic  Pantheism  we 
have  aU  to  dread  from  Atheistic  Pantheism.  That 
which  is  of  import  to  our'  generation  is  not  the 
rehgious  inclination  of  souls  athirst  for  God,  it  is 
the  insatiable  appetite  of  the  earth.  That  which 
fascinates  us  is  not  the  dazzling  vision  of  heaven, 


ATHEISTIC    PANTHEISM.  107 

but  rather  the  dark  mh-age  of  matter.  The  sub- 
lime wanderings  of  mysticism  do  not  trouble  the 
soul  of  our  contemporaries,  and  we  are  in  no 
danger  of  being  absorbed  by  those  contemplative 
ones  who,  engrossed  in  God,  see  the  world  vanish 
before  their  dazzled  eyes.  No  ;  the  sect  of  Bud- 
dhists or  Brahmins  is  in  no  danger  of  reviving, 
nothing  is  to  be  feared  from  their  inoffensive  doc- 
trine. Why  attack  the  dead?  Let  us  respect 
their  slumber,  and  let  us  leave  in  peace  the  great 
dreamers  of  India,  China,  Persia,  and  Egypt,  the 
Pantheists  of  Greece,  the  Gnostics,  the  Neo-Pla- 
tonists,  the  Mystics  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  modern 
Pantheists  of  Germany.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
the  parade  of  philosophic  erudition  ;  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  attacking  systems  in  vogue,  which  mislead 
minds  and  narrow  souls  by  taking  them  from  God. 

Now,  the  living  Pantheism  of  to-day  is  atheistic. 
It  has  made  a  redoubtable  alliance  with  positivism 
and  materialism,  and  these  three  dispute  for  our 
people.  It  speaks  by  the  mouth  of  those  who  say, 
"  Outside  and  above  the  universe  there  is  nothing." 
It  holds  the  pen  of  those  who  say,  "God  will  always 
be  the  sum  of  the  supra-sensible  wants  of  the 
human  soul  ;  He  is  the  category  of  the  ideal." 

It  inspires  those  who  reason  :  "  God  is  the 
eternal  to  become.  He  is  not— properly  speaking, 
He  is  to  be  ;  God  cannot  exist  ;  if  the  universe  is, 
the  perfect,  or  God,  can  but  be  conceived  and 
dreamed  of." 

This  it  is  which  sings  in  those  poems  in  which 
nature  is   deified,  and  where   imagination    given 


108  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

over  to  an  idolatrous  enthusiasm  speaks  to  all  that 
lives  and  breathes  as  one  should  speak  to  God  alone. 
This  it  is  which  fears  not  to  prefer  to  the  true 
God,  "  This  god,  hazard  and  nature,  which  cannot 
be  offended,  which  is  everything,  from  the  stone 
hidden  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  to  the  yellow 
mist  which  floats  in  a  light  cloud  before  the  moon. 
This  god  which  is  breathed  in  with  the  air  and  the 
perfume  of  flowers,  this  god  which  is  at  once 
the  water  which  flows  and  the  wind  which  roars, 
the  flower  which  opens  to  the  sun  and  the  sun 
which  oj)ens  the  flower,  and  the  bee  which  bm'ies 
itself  in  the  flower's  calix." 

It  is  this  Atheistic  Pantheism  in  fine,  which 
inspires  our  pagan  morality,  and  deadens  in  cor- 
ruption hearts  vowed  to  the  idolatry  of  themselves, 
deifying  a  matter  that  they  should  disdain. 

I  insist  no  further,  brethren,  I  have  said  enough 
to  show  you  the  presence  of  the  evil  ;  henceforth  it 
is  om"  business  to  expose  and  conquer  it. 

What  is  the  aim  of  a  system,  and  the  object  of  a 
theory  ?  To  explain  that  which  is  ;  consequently 
to  determine  the  nature,  principle,  law,  and  end  of 
things.  Now,  Atheistic  Pantheism  is  completely 
summed  up  in  four  dogmas  which  contain  the 
reply  to  these  four  fundamental  questions. 

There  is  but  one  substance  and  one  being,  sub- 
stantial identification  of  God  with  the  universe  : 
first  dogma. 

At  the  origin,  the  beginning  of  things,  there  is 
the  infinite,  indeterminable,  inconscient,  impersonal 
in  the  power  of  being  :  second  dogma. 


ATHEISTIC   PANTHEISM.  109 

The  universe  progresses  and  develops  beneath 
the  law  of  a  blind  and  necessary  progression  :  third 
dogma. 

The  final  term  of  this  progressive  series,  in  in- 
cessant motion,  is  man  :  fourth  dogma. 

To  refute  these,  is  to  sap  the  very  foundations  of 
Pantheism.  Now,  the  first  dogma  goes  directly  to 
suppress  the  "I"  and  the  divine  personality;  the 
second  is  a  defiance  of  reason  itself;  the  third  is 
the  total  overthrow  of  conscience  and  liberty  ;  the 
fourth,  by  leading  to  the  deification  of  man  on  the 
ruins  of  God,  of  duty,  and  of  liberty,  leads  to 
the  deification  of  force,  after  engendering  all  servi- 
tude and  fomenting  all  corruption.  I  will  demon- 
strate this. 

On  your  part,  brethren,  you  whose  personality 
is  thus  ignored,  whose  reason  is  insulted,  and 
whose  conscience  is  outraged  by  these  false  systems, 
may  the  just  care  for  the  future  of  that  humanity, 
whose  sons  you  are,  teach  you  to  unmask  these 
baleful  errors  which  cannot  face  the  examination 
of  a  masculine  intelligence,  nor  long  captivate  a 
sincere  and  prudent  mind. 

The  very  essence  of  Pantheism  is  the  substantial 
identification  of  God  and  the  universe  ;  everything 
in  this  system  tends  to  that  end.  Thus  it  is  justly 
named  the  system  of  universal  identity.  There  is 
but  one  substance,  it  says,  one  being  ;  it  is  at  the 
same  time  one  and  many,  time  and  eternity,  space 
and  number,  individuality  and  totality,  principle, 
term  and  middle,  infinite  and  finite,  all  in  one. 

Is  this  affirmation  tenable  ?    No,  brethren,  it  is 


110  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

a  gratuitous  postulate,  having  for  its  justification 
only,  either  an  arbitrary  definition  of  substance,  or 
the  difiiculties  presented  by  the  substantial  duality 
of  the  finite  and  the  infinite.  If,  indeed,  we  defined 
substance,  with  Spinoza,  as  that  which  is  of  itself, 
one  must  logically  infer  the  unity  of  substance  ;  for 
God  alone  is  of  Himself,  and  the  universe  in  con- 
nection with  Him  but  a  series  of  accidental  and 
ephemeral  manifestations.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
to  distinguish  substantially  the  finite  from  the 
infinite,  you  expect  to  explain  their  co-existence 
and  the  mystery  of  creation,  you  would  never  free 
yourself  from  the  theory  of  identity.  But,  first  of 
all,  the  definition  of  Spinoza  is  contestable  ;  then, 
with  all  those  who  take  into  account  facts,  I  reply 
fearlessly  :  It  is  not  possible  to  reduce  the  real  and 
the  ideal  to  identity. 

Without  doubt  there  exists  a  universal  principle 
from  which  everything  is  derived,  and  to  which  all 
leads  ;  but  such  an  origin  and  end  implies  no  con- 
fusion of  substance  between  God  and  the  universe. 
No  doubt  the  divine  idea,  the  Word — to  speak  in 
the  language  of  Catholic  doctrine — is  the  universal 
light,  lightening  all  things  with  a  ray  of  ineffable 
simplicity  ;  but  this  light  does  not  confound  itself 
with  the  partial  intelligences  which  emanate  from 
it.  It  envelops  without  absorbing  them.  The 
suns  which  fill  the  universe  and  from  which  all 
light  is  derived,  do  they  prevent  the  least  spark 
from  shining  in  our  eyes  ?  They  make  it  pale,  but 
they  do  not  extinguish  it. 

It  is  a  great  and  generous  impulse,  this  tendency 


ATHEISTIC    PANTHEISM.  Ill 

of  human  intelligence  towards  unity,  and  it  is  not 
the  least  attraction  of  Pantheism  that  it  promises 
us  the  satisfaction  of  the  noblest  and  most  im- 
perious want  of  our  reason. 

Watch  this  exacting  reason,  follow  it  in  its 
incessant  activity,  ask  what  it  wants.  You  will  find 
it  seeking  for  the  First  Being  which  will  enable  it 
to  bring  together  into  one  all  the  beings  of  creation  ; 
you  will  see  it  in  search  of  that  First  Idea  which 
will  reveal  in  their  simple  clearness  all  inferior 
ideas.  Is  the  ambition  legitimate  ?  is  the  dream 
realizable  by  merely  human  power?  The  Christian 
doctrine  does  not  believe  this. 

The  more  the  First  Being  is  above  our  limited 
nature,  the  more  the  First  Idea  governs  our  con- 
fined intelligence.  Left  to  himself  man  imagines 
the  beginning  of  things,  but  he  cannot  reach  it  ; 
he  has  a  dim  notion  of  the  eternal  light,  but  sees 
only  its  shadows  and  reflections  ;  unity  attracts  him, 
but  he  is  far  from  it,  like  those  vessels  at  anchor  in 
high  sea,  far  from  the  coast  that  they  can  see  but 
where  they  cannot  land. 

For  man,  and  even  for  God  Himself,  unity  will 
never  be  identity.  On  the  one  part,  indeed,  the 
beatific  vision  excludes  all  confusion  of  substance 
between  ourselves  and  God  ;  on  the  other,  although 
all  emanates  from  God,  and  God  sees  all  in  His 
unity,  God  remains  substantially  distinct  from  the 
beings  that  He  has  created,  and  that  He  moves  by 
virtue  of  His  word. 

Would  you  have  an  irrefutable  proof  against 
the   theory  of  identity?     It  is  within  us,  in  the 


112  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

very  depths   of  our  being,    in   the   first   word   of 
conscience. 

What  is  the  "  I  "  ?  The  I  is  that  which  opposes 
the  not  I,  that  which  can  be  no  other.  The  "J" 
is  indivisible,  indestructible.  Nothing  has  a  hold 
on  the  "I."  Matter  is  pulverized;  to  believe 
geometricians,  the  infinite  is  divisible:  the  "I" 
cannot  be  divided  ;  it  is  that  simple  force  which  is 
confounded  with  nothing  else,  and  against  which 
nothing  has  any  power.  Like  the  atom,  it  is  never 
lost  ;  it  can  be  but  itself,  and  even  the  infinite 
cannot  absorb  it.  Now,  brethren,  the  "I"  exists; 
your  consciousness  proclaims  it,  and  was  it  but 
ever  so  little,  that  little  would  be  sufiicient  to  crush 
the  theory  of  universal  identity  beyond  all  hope. 

It  is  sufficient,  in  order  to  upset  the  scaffolding 
of  doctrines  in  appearance  the  most  learnedly 
established,  to  make  use  of  one  word,  one  fact, 
so  long  as  the  word  is  true,  the  fact  undeniable. 
The  word  I  oppose  triumphantly  to  Pantheism  is 
the  word  of  Medea  of  old.  "What  remains  to 
you?"  they  asked  her.  "Myself,"  she  replied; 
"  and  it  is  enough." 

Let  us  give  ourselves  the  luxury  of,  I  will  not 
say  a  more  complete,  but  a  more  extensive  refuta- 
tion ;  and  prove  to  Pantheism  that,  like  all  false 
systems,  it  outrages  the  very  reason  it  pretends  to 
exalt. 

What  is  the  action  of  human  intelligence  ?  To 
know  and  to  consider.  It  aspires  to  one  first 
principle  in  order  to  discover  the  connection  and 
the  reason  of    things;    it   has  not,    however,    as 


ATHEISTIC    PANTHEISM.  113 

Pantheism  believes,  the  foolish  pretension  to  con- 
found and  identify  everything.  It  wishes  to  dis- 
cover similitudes;  but,  at  the  same  time,  to 
recognize  differences  ;  the  unity  it  seeks  is  one  of 
harmony,  not  of  substance. 

Have  you  ever  analyzed,  my  brethren,  that 
which  may  be  called  the  basis  and  foundation  of 
the  human  mind  ?  You  discover  in  it  four  great 
immutable  principles  :  the  principle  of  identity, 
which  serves  to  perceive  similitudes  ;  the  principle 
of  causality,  which  serves  to  make  us  grasp  the 
origin  of  things  ;  the  principle  of  substance,  which 
assists  us  in  reducing  the  multiplicity  of  things  to 
unity  ;  the  principle  of  contradiction,  which  obliges 
us  to  respect  irreducible  differences.  The  three 
first  preside  over  the  synthetic  and  unitive  move- 
ment of  our  reason.  The  fourth  governs  this 
movement  and  moderates  its  tendency  to  unity. 

To  touch  these  principles  is  to  violate  reason 
itself,  and  to  destroy  them  is  to  destroy  it.  Now, 
Pantheism  is  a  deliberate  attack  against  the 
principle  of  contradiction.  In  virtue  of  this  axiom 
can  we  place  under  the  same  head  the  perfect 
and  the  imperfect,  the  yes  and  the  no,  the  existent 
and  non-existent  ?  Can  we  identify  two  beings 
whose  attributes  are  opposed  ?  No,  brethren,  that 
is  against  common  sense  ;  it  is  a  positive  absurdity. 
Pantheism,  by  identifying  God  and  the  world, 
commits  this  absurdity.  For  instance  :  God  is  a 
perfect  Being,  or  He  is  not.  But  this  world  which 
for  the  Pantheist  is  God,  cannot  be  perfect,  for  it 
is   ever   changing.     All   in   it   moves;  nothing  is 

I 


114  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

stationary,  all  progresses.  Matter  transforms 
itself;  minerals  balance  by  hidden  movement 
their  invisible  atoms  ;  the  planets  roll  in  their 
immense  orbits,  without  repose  or  cessation  ; 
they  moved  yesterday  and  will  move  to-morrow. 
Whither  do  they  go,  and  what  do  they  seek  ?  Who 
can  tell  ?  This  only  is  certain,  they  do  go  and 
they  do  seek.  Life  is  in  unquiet  labour,  never 
satisfied,  never  fatigued. 

And  man  ?  What  moving  activity  !  what  ab« 
sorptions  !  what  alternations  of  mistakes  and  hopes, 
of  happiness  and  anguish  !  What  a  fever  of  life  ! 
what  a  breathless  race  along  this  road  without  an 
end,  which  opens  to  his  ambition  an  indefinite 
progress  !  "  The  whole  creation  groaneth  and 
travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now." 

Well,  my  brethren,  what  does  all  this  movement 
provCj?  It  condemns  the  doctrine  of  Pantlieism. 
Do  you  not  see  that  that  which  moves  seeks 
something  ;  that  which  seeks  something  is  wanting 
in  what  it  seeks  ;  that  which  is  wanting,  were  it 
only  in  an  atom,  is  not  perfect  ?  Thus,  here  is 
contradiction  between  the  perfect  and  the  imper- 
fect. To  identify  them  would  be  to  destroy  one  of 
the  first  principles  of  reason.  Let  Pantheism,  if 
it  will,  accomplish  this  impious  and  illogical  work, 
we  will  keep  our  intelligence  whole,  our  identity 
inviolable  ;  and  in  the  name  of  reason  this  identity 
will  proclaim  the  irreducibility  of  the  imperfect, 
which  is  the  universe,  and  the  perfect,  which  is 
God,  into  the  same  substance. 


ATHEISTIC    PANTHEISM.  115 

God  being  suppressed  by  this  sacrilegious  con- 
fusion, what  remains  to  the  origin  of  your  deified 
universe  ?  Let  us  ask  Pantheism.  The  Infinite. 
The  Infinite  ?  That  is  the  reply  of  the  Catholic 
doctrine.  We  also  place  the  Infinite  at  the  begin- 
ning of  things;  only  we  differ  in  two  important 
points  from  the  system  of  identity. 

To  begin  with,  for  us  the  Infinite  is  not,  as 
Pantheism  teaches,  a  force  emanating  from  things, 
it  is  a  transcendent  force.  It  contains  the  universe, 
and  consequently  is  present  to  the  universe;  but 
the  universe  does  not  contain  it,  and  consequently 
it  transcends  the  universe.  More  :  for  us  this 
Infinite  is  identical  with  perfection  ;  for  Pantheism 
it  is  but  a  to  he,  undeterminate,  impersonal,  incon- 
scient, a  sort  of  nameless  chaos,  which  is  more 
than  nothing  and  is  not  yet  something. 

Here  the  doctrine  we  are  attacking  enters  into 
a  path  without  issue  ;  it  will  not  be  difficult  to 
master  and  reduce  it. 

Why  should  we  place  an  Infinite  at  the  base  and 
origin  of  things,  in  order  to  account  to  ourselves 
for  the  phenomena  whose  yearly  unfolding  forms 
the  drama  of  creation  ?  With  all  its  Infinite  can 
Pantheism  do  so  ?  It  pretends  it  can,  but  falsely  ; 
and  as,  to  sustain  its  "universal  identity,"  it  has 
had  to  tread  underfoot  the  principle  of  contradic- 
tion and  condemn  itself  to  an  absurdity,  so,  to 
defend  its  strange  and  false  "Infinite,"  it  will  be 
obliged  to  upset  another  principle  of  reason  and 
condemn  itself  a  second  time  to  an  absurdity. 

What,  indeed,  can  you  ever  produce  fi'om  the 


116  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

indeterminate,  tlie  inconscient,  from  blind  force  ? 
What  !  the  universe,  with  its  innumerable  forms, 
whose  variety  and  contrast  increase  their  harmony  ; 
the  universe,  that  you  see  gradually  emerging  from 
chaos,  progressing  from  mechanism  into  life,  from 
insensible  life  to  sensible  life,  from  sensible  life  to 
conscious,  free,  and  intelligent  life — that  universe 
the  produce  of  your  pretended  Infinite  ?  That 
which,  according  to  you,  has  no  being,  as  it  is  but 
a  power  which  is  to  be  ;  and  that  which  has  no 
order,  as  it  is  but  a  blind  force  ;  that  which  has 
neither  life,  consciousness,  nor  freedom,  as  it  finds 
life  only  in  man — that  intangible  Infinite,  can  it 
have  produced  all  things  ?  My  brethren,  to  sustain 
such  a  paradox  one  must  abdicate  one's  very 
reason  ! 

And  the  principle  of  causality,  the  principle  of 
satisfied  reason,  the  principle  of  determinateness, 
that  invincible  axiom  which  shows  us  in  facts  that 
only  which  is  in  the  cause — what  will  you  do 
with  it?  Can  you  ever  reconcile  it  with  your 
doctrine  ?  It  is  impossible  to  banish  it  ;  submit  to 
it,  then,  and  renounce  these  untenable  theories. 

These  sophists,  brethren,  do  not  recoil  at  this  ; 
and  you  are  face  to  face  with  men  who  dare  to  pro- 
claim, to  the  contempt  of  all  common  sense,  the 
identity  of  yes  and  no,  of  being  and  of  nothingness, 
as  the  acme  of  enfranchised  reason  and  the 
philosophy  of  the  future  ! 

How  can  such  assertions  be  defended  ?  how 
could  that  inexplicable  German  Algebra  of  Hegel's 


ATHEISTIC    PANTHEISM.  117 

ever  have  been  formulated  ?  you  ask  me,  brethren. 
Here  is  the  key  ;  I  am  very  glad  to  give  it  you, 
and  to  introduce  you  into  this  foggy  land  in  order 
to  bring  some  light  into  it. 

The  famous  principle  of  the  identity  of  existence 
and  non-existence,  from  whence  has  issued  the 
logical  identity  of  contradictions,  comes  from  that 
false  Infinite  which  Pantheists  have  put  at  the 
origin  of  all  things.  In  it,  certainly,  being  and 
not-being  are  confounded.  It  is  not,  strictly  speak- 
ing, because  it  is  to  be  ;  it  is,  however,  because 
from  it  all  things  come.  Thus,  the  sophists  con- 
clude triumphantly,  in  the  eyes  of  a  clear  reason 
which  has  reached  the  absolute  principle  of  things, 
contraries  are  identified.  For  the  profane  there 
still  exists  a  difference  between  yes  and  no,  between 
existence  and  non-existence  ;  but  to  the  initiated 
sage  all  difference  is  effaced — he  is  in  the  fuU  sun- 
light of  identity. 

These  clouds  were  the  rage  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Ehine.  The  mania  was  such  that  Germany 
was  too  narrow  to  contain  it  ;  and  France,  degraded 
and  forgetful  of  her  genius,  made  herself  the  com- 
plaisant assistant  of  her  dark  and  terrible  neigh- 
bour. 

These  formulas  which  overthrow  reason  to 
attack  God  are  applauded.  All,  certainly,  in  this 
country  have  not  countenanced  these  blasphemies, 
but  too  great  a  number  have  received  them. 
Doubtless  in  questions  of  doctrine  there  is  no 
nationality  ;  but  believe  me,  brethren,  if  truth  knows 
no  country  and  owns  no  frontier,  error  does. 


118  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

Let  us  not,  then,  accept  these  poisonous  products 
of  foreign  importation  ;  and  should  only  two  hands 
be  raised  to  applaud  them,  two  hands  would  be  too 
many  :  patriotism  alone,  in  default  of  logic,  should 
command  silence. 

Do  not  be  astonished,  brethren,  that  these  subtle 
and  complicated  doctrines,  so  carefully  erected, 
can  be  refuted  by  the  first  principles  of  reason,  by 
those  simple  truths  which  illumine  every  soul  that 
comes  into  the  world.  Error  is  less  difficult  to 
conquer  than  you  think.  It  seeks  to  impose  upon 
you  with  an  air  of  daring  and  security  ;  this  is 
merely  a  tactic.  All  that  is  false  is  fragile.  The 
truth  alone  is  invincible.  Error,  whether  giant  or 
colossus,  is  easy  to  break  and  overturn.  Giant,  its 
name  is  Goliath  ;  it  is  aggressive  like  the  Philistine, 
but  the  shepherd's  sling  is  sufficient  to  destroy  it. 
There  needs,  to  slay  it,  but  one  stone  from  the 
side  of  the  mountain.  The  stone  of  the  sling, 
brethren,  you  all  possess  in  those  immortal  axioms 
that  are  your  very  reason  itself.  The  mountain  is 
God.  And  if  savants,  unnatural  thinkers  betray- 
ing their  own  genius,  rebel  against  reason  and 
against  God  ;  if,  in  contempt  of  this  very  reason 
and  of  the  God  from  whom  it  came,  they  remain 
obstinate  in  their  vain  and  false  systems — well, 
then  I  will  appeal  to  the  people  ;  I  will  have  re- 
course to  the  reason  of  the  masses  :  and  it  is  from 
the  crowd  of  simple  and  honest  ones  that  that 
David  will  arise,  armed,  to  strike  on  the  head  these 
false  giants  who  prostitute  their  strength  to  insult 
the  people  of  God. 


ATHEISTIC    PANTHEISM.  119 

And  progress,  brethren — that  progress  of  which 
the  Pantheists  make  such  a  grand  parade,  which 
they  proclaim  as  the  universal  law  of  things,  as 
the  very  life  of  their  deified  cosmos — that  progress 
whose  development  they  follow  with  their  science, 
and  that  they  even  sing  of  in  their  enthusiastic 
poetry  ; — what  can  we  say  to  this  ?  Here,  at  least, 
is  Pantheism  true  ?  At  first  sight  nothing  more 
beautiful  or  more  indisputable.  Nothing  more 
beautiful  ;  for  all  that  grows  and  develops  im- 
presses you  with  indescribable  life  a,nd  splendour. 
Nothing  more  indisputable  ;  for  if  there  is  a 
phenomenon  which  must  strike  every  eye,  it  is 
the  harmonious  and  progressive  movement  of  the 
universe. 

Question  the  heavens  :  astronomy  will  tell  you 
the  history  of  those  luminous  giants  which  an  in- 
visible Hand  has  cast  into  space  without  limit, 
and  which  move  on  their  fiery  tracks.  How  surely 
they  advance,  how  harmoniously  they  grouj)  them- 
selves !  It  is  not  a  rabble  cast  hither  and  thither, 
rushing  madly  about  in  space  ;  it  is  an  army  mar- 
vellously organized,  whose  bewildering  evolutions 
are  regulated  without  faltering  or  error  by  an  un- 
seen and  inexorable  force.  Never  does  the  smallest 
planet  stray.  The  most  erratic  comets  follow  to  a 
hair  the  line  that  has  been  assigned  to  them — by 
whom  ?  you  ask  the  Pantheist.  What  does  that 
matter?  he  rej^lies  ;  it  has  but  one  road  to  go. 
Progress  is  blind,  and  therefore  single. 

Eemember  this,  brethren  ;  it  is  important.  Let 
us  meanwhile  pursue  a  little  further  this  living  and 


120  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

admirable  law  of  progress,  this  ever-changing  earth 
that  we  tread  underfoot. 

The  crust  of  this  planet  might  appear  to  you 
overthrown  by  the  influence  of  strange  and  un- 
known disturbing  forces  :  but  no,  nothing  is  dis- 
orderly in  the  universe  ;  disturbance  exists  only  to 
those  incapable  of  grasping  the  general  order  of 
things.  All  is  in  its  place.  The  very  volcanoes 
are  as  measured  in  their  violent  eruptions  as  the 
quiet  flowers  open  to  the  rays  of  the  sun.  Nothing 
which  is  could  be  otherwise  than  as  it  is.  All 
moves,  but  without  ever  losing  the  place  assigned 
to  it.  No  exception  to  the  law.  Life  seems  to 
escape  it  ;  no,  brethren,  that  which  we  call  its 
caprice  forms  an  admirable  epic  whose  every 
scene  and  act  is  prearranged.  Flowers  have 
their  regular  development  like  the  constellations 
of  heaven.  Trees  and  giant  oaks  are  like  a  nation 
whose  boundary  has  its  strict  inviolable  laws. 
Well,  and  then  ?  Then,  you  see,  says  the  Pan- 
theist, progress  declares  itself  in  higher  stages, 
and  is  superposed  with  invariable  regularity.  No 
creature  escapes  this  inevitable  action,  and  man 
himself  consummates  it  without  modifying  the  law. 
He  is  the  last  product  of  the  evolution  of  the 
eternal  "to  be,"  that  Infinite  whose  inexhaustible 
depth  knows  no  sterility,  and  engenders  in  spite 
of  itself  all  that  it  evolves.  Then  all  is  necessary 
in  this  forced  progress  of  things  ?  Certainly,  that 
which  comes  from  the  Infinite  cannot  issue  other- 
wise than  as  experience  has  proved  it.  That  which 
is  must  be.     How  ?     Must  humanity  itself  bow  to 


ATHEISTIC    PANTHEISM.  121 

the  law  of  fate  ?  Yes,  everything  is  fatal.  But  is 
not  man  free  ?  Has  he  not  a  conscience  which 
asserts  the  distinction  between  good  and  evil  ?  If 
evil  exists  there  are  surely  things  which  should  not 
be,  for  evil  is  exactly  that  which  ought  not  to  be  ; 
and  then,  in  the  face  of  liberty  of  conscience,  and  of 
evil,  what  becomes  of  your  law  of  progress  ? 

Yes,  my  brethren,  if  all  should  obey,  if  all  in 
heaven  and  earth  should  bear  witness  to  the  ex- 
clusive law  imagined  by  Pantheism,  a  terrible 
power,  liberty,  would  be  sufficient  to  confound  it. 
If  every  planet  and  every  star  is  held  subject,  man 
is  not.  He  is  free.  He  can  do  wrong  :  he  can 
violate  the  law  ;  he  can  go  astray  ;  his  power  to 
do  evil  and  his  very  falls  prove  that  all  is  not 
subject  to  an  inexorable  Fate — they  demonstrate 
that  the  law  of  progress  as  understood  by  Panthe- 
ism is  false  and  immoral.  Choose,  then,  between 
that  moral  consciousness  which  infallibly  teaches 
good  and  evil,  and  that  doctrine  which  by  sup- 
pressing all  distinction  between  good  and  evil  ruins 
the  very  basis  of  conscience,  and  confounds  vice 
and  virtue  as  it  does  yes  and  no,  existence  and 
non-existence. 

You  will  respect,  I  am  convinced,  liberty  and 
conscience,  and  you  will  retain  virtue,  which  is 
more  valuable  than  a  host  of  brilliant  sophisms. 
A  system  which  finds  no  place  for  it  has  none, 
either,  for  truth  :  goodness  is  the  touchstone  of 
truth. 

Therefore,  brethren,  behold  the  universality  of 
things  according  to  Pantheism  in  full  bloom.     The 


122  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

great  All  is  raised  little  by  little,  step  by  step  ; 
the  pyramid  is  constructed  on  the  vast  founda- 
tion of  the  Infinite  ;  it  terminates  in  man,  who  is 
the  crest  and  crowning  point  of  all.  Man  !  this  is 
the  end  of  all  things.  The  thinking,  conscient 
being  ;  such  is  the  last  limit  of  this  irresistible 
processus. 

Upon  what  is  this  assertive  doctrine  founded  ? 
Is  it  not,  to  say  the  least,  rash — certainly  hypo- 
thetical—to assign,  as  limit  to  the  evolution  of 
universal  life,  man,  who  covers  with  misery,  as 
well  as  grandeur,  that  world  on  which  for  a 
moment  he  breathes,  vegetates,  and  dies  ?  Has  the 
impersonal  and  inconscient  Infinite  of  the  Pan- 
theists confided  to  them  his  secret  ?  But  truly,  if 
he  has  done  so  much,  why  does  he  not  do  more  ? 
How  !  it  is  on  this  grain  of  sand  called  a  planet,  it 
is  in  human  thought,  that  doubtful  light,  it  is  in 
the  dispersed  and  devouring  race  of  the  sons  of 
man,  that  he  exhausts  his  irresistible  and  incom- 
mensurable fecundity  ! 

I  will  not  stay  to  consider  that  which  is  arbitrary 
and  gratuitous  in  its  doctrine  of  the  finality  of 
things.  A  startling  problem  arises  :  what  will 
Pantheism  do  with  man,  whom  it  proclaims  as  the 
highest  form  of  the  progress  of  things? 

What  will  it  do  ?     It  will  deify  him. 

Always  the  same  conclusion.  When  one  enters 
into  these  radical  errors  of  positivism,  materialism, 
or  Pantheism,  one  begins  by  denying  God,  one  ends 
by  deifying  man. 


ATHEISTIC   PANTHEISM.  123 

A  God  !  They  must  always  have  a  God  !  The 
true  cast  away,  they  turn  to  some  idol,  and  raise 
up  altars  to  a  vain  image,  like  the  Israelites  of  old. 

But  what  is  this  God  of  yours,  you  idolaters  ? 
The  most  refined,  taking  what  is  sublime  in  him — 
thought— called  it  the  Ideal.  What  !  the  living 
God  to  whom  I  pray,  whom  I  adore,  whom  I  have 
so  often  invoked  in  my  misery  with  a  broken  heart 
— this  God  is  the  mere  idea  of  man's  brain  !  Yes  ; 
for  all  reality  is  poor  and  imperfect  ;  the  perfect 
can  only  be  a  conception  of  reason.  What  ?  That 
which  humanity  has  loved,  that  it  has  sang  of 
through  centuries,  that  whose  voice  it  thought 
itself  to  have  heard,  whom  it  believed  itself  to  have 
seen  in  Christ — that  God  was  but  a  deceitful  mirage 
of  reason, — that  deluded  reason  which  naively 
embodied  its  own  visions  !  But  this  is  sad  even 
to  bitterness,  and  afflicting  even  to  despah^  !  Thus 
logic  wills  ;  thus  an  inexorable  Science  exacts  ! 
0  savant,  keep  your  logic  and  your  science,  keep 
that  which  you  call  strict  truth  !  Your  science 
is  false,  your  logic  blind,  your  truth  a  lie,  since 
they  lead  to  these  ghastly  results.  Where  despair 
is  there  can  never  be  truth. 

More  positive  in  their  Pantheism,  others,  well 
knowing  that  humanity  cannot  be  satisfied  with 
abstract  ideas  and  fanciful  dreams,  deify  real 
humanity. 

Take  care,  then,  for  a  terrible  abyss  will  open. 
From  the  time  that  humanity  is  the  supreme  force 
of  things,  you   must   submit   to   the   pressure   of 


124  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

numbers,  the  tyranny  of  force,  the  despotism  of 
intelligence.  You  must  re-establish  in  the  human 
reign  that  law  which  spread  and  prevailed  in  the 
darkest  ages.  Now,  in  the  darkest  ages,  who 
governed  ?  The  strongest.  Who  was  in  the  right  ? 
The  strongest.  Who  existed  on  the  ruin  of  others  ? 
The  strongest  ;   sometimes  the  luckiest. 

It  will  be  the  same  in  humanity;  and  the 
strongest  in  humanity  is  the  mass.  The  strongest 
is  the  most  intelligent  and  the  most  able.  How, 
brethren,  you  would  consent  to  deify  thus  strength 
and  the  mass,  abiUty  and  even  reason  ?  But  if 
the  mass  goes  astray,  if  reason  wanders  ?  Do  we 
not  see  every  day  how  weak  and  inconstant  the 
mass  of  humanity  is  ?  A  word  rouses  them  into 
fury  ;  a  word  appeases  them.  A  caprice  renders 
them  infatuated  with  liberty  ;  a  panic  disconcerts 
them,  and  casts  them  at  the  feet  of  a  Caesar.  Is 
that  what  you  would  deify  !  But  reason  ?  It  is 
no  more  sure.  What  temptations  are  there  not  to 
the  greatest  minds  !  what  di'eams  of  ambition,  of 
tyranny,  and  of  egotism  !  What  inflames  the  world  ? 
What  sets  at  war  nations  and  races  ?  What  lets 
loose  the  most  implacable  scourge  upon  this  planet  ? 
Is  it  not  intelligence  become  the  accomplice  of 
ambition  and  passion  ?  There  remains  only  the 
weak,  the  poor,  virtuous  souls  and  honest  hearts, 
gentle  to  others,  stern  only  with  themselves.  What 
place  shall  they  have  in  this  barbarous  system 
which  deifies  what  it  should  rather  scourge  ?  If 
3^ou  must  sacrifice  any,  sacrifice  rather  the  wicked 
— not  the  righteous,  not  the  self-denying.     But  in 


ATHEISTIC    PANTHEISM.  125 

deified  humanity  it  cannot  be  so;  the  last  word 
will  ever  remain  to  the  strongest,  without  appeal. 
To  what  will  you  have  recourse  against  this  God  ? 
To  heaven  ?  It  is  empty.  To  earth  ?  It  belongs 
to  the  most  powerful.  To  right  ?  It  is  no  longer 
more  than  the  expression  of  force.  Force  alone 
speaks  in  this  nation  of  slaves. 

And  this  is  the  conclusion  to  which  Pantheism 
inevitably  leads.  It  destroys  God  by  sacrificing 
man  ;  after  sacrificing  man,  it  brings  him  to 
despair  ;  after  bringing  him  to  despair,  it  degrades 
him.     What  a  prospect  ! 

Ah  !  my  brothers,  it  is  not  thus  in  the  Christian 
world,  in  the  humanity  that  Christ  purchased  with 
His  blood,  enlightened  with  His  wisdom,  trans- 
formed with  His  Spirit.  Those  will  there  be 
crowned  who,  without  having  had  genius,  strength, 
or  fortune — which  depends  on  no  one, — have  had — 
that  which  depends  upon  ourselves — virtue.  And 
He,  the  crucified  God,  wills  to  appear  to  man,  His 
brow  encircled  with  the  glory  of  the  righteous,  the 
meek-spirited,  the  self-denying  of  this  world. 

If  Jesus  Christ  was  not  God,  He  would  be  the 
greatest  and  best  of  all  that  have  ever  trod  this 
earth.  To  Him  will  turn  all  those  who  put  love 
and  goodness  above  genius  and  power,  those  who 
would  subdue  might  to  right,  and  man  to  God. 


FOUKTH  DISCOURSE. 

scepticism. 

Beetheen, 

Certain  men  dare  to  assert  that  souls  have 
no  life  ;  that  they  simply  vegetate.  You  see  crowds 
of  men  of  pleasure,  men  of  art,  men  of  interest  ; 
but  men,  where  are  they  to  be  found  ?  The  ex- 
cessive development  of  material  civilization  has 
precipitated  the  abasement  of  moral  life,  and 
the  abasement  of  moral  life  has  provoked  a  more 
disastrous  invasion  than  that  of  foreign  armies,  the 
invasion  of  philosophical  and  religious  Scepticism. 
Hence  a  dearth  of  men. 

Scepticism  prevents  their  growth,  and  kills  them 
in  the  germ. 

Nowadays,  my  brethren,  people  believe  the  truths 
demonstrated  by  experimental  Science,  but  not 
those  which  go  beyond  it.  They  believe  those 
truths  deduced  by  simple  logic,  but  not  those 
proclaimed  by  revelation;  they  believe  in  every- 
thing that  can  be  felt,  weighed,  or  measured,  but 
in  nothing  which  is  beyond  the  material  proof  of 
the  senses. 

They  believe   in   matter,  they  doubt  the   soul  ; 


SCEPTICISM.  127 

they  believe  the  phenomena  which  speak  of  the 
laws  of  the  universe,  they  doubt  God  who  made 
the  universe  ;  they  beheve  in  the  fatahty  of  matter, 
they  doubt  that  hberty  which  is  the  law  of  intel- 
ligence ;  they  believe  all  that  is  lower  than  man, 
they  doubt  all  that  is  within  and  above  him.  They 
believe  in  the  life  which  passes,  because  man  dies  ; 
they  do  not  believe  in  the  life  which  passes  not, 
and  which  alone  can  give  to  the  soul,  freed  from 
earthly  dust,  the  full  satisfaction  of  its  longings. 
They  believe  in  pleasures  and  seek  to  live  in  them  ; 
they  believe  in  interest,  and  make  it  their  god; 
they  do  not  beUeve  in  virtue.  They  believe  in 
appearances,  but  not  in  realities.  They  believe  in 
that  which  is  played  upon  the  stage,  but  not  in  that 
genius  which  manages  the  stage  and  influences 
the  players. 

Faith,  which  has  been  the  life  of  past  ages,  which 
is  found  in  the  cradle  of  every  nation,  inspiring  its 
virtues  and  watching  over  its  destiny — that  faith 
we  lack  ;  the  fountain  is  as  it  were  dried  up. 

Souls  are  in  despair  ;  families  are  dissolved,  the 
hearths  are  cold,  the  people  are  unquiet  ;  races 
deteriorate  ;  a  dull  anguish  weighs  down  this  gene- 
ration bitten  by  doubt.  No  more  enthusiasm,  no 
more  hope,  no  future.  A  whole  cycle  has  passed  ; 
and  the  pale  survivors  of  that  cycle,  worn  out,  seem 
anxious  for  death.  We  are  sad,  very  sad,  whatever 
they  may  say.  Noisy  pleasures  can  only  deceive 
those  who  do  not  look  below  the  surface.  In  the 
very  depths  there  is  a  well  of  anguish,  a  world  of 
agony. 


128  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

Shall  we  then  die  ?  No,  we  will  not  die  !  Let 
those  who  will,  do  so  !  Let  those  who  have  re- 
nounced all  hope,  die  !  Did  I  come  to  prophesy 
the  end  of  all  things,  you  would  protest,  you  would 
silence  me,  young  souls  full  of  life,  who  are  the 
seeds  of  a  brighter  future  ;  mothers  who  look  upon 
your  sons  with  eyes  of  hope,  and  see  in  them  the 
intrepid  heroes  of  your  dreams  ;  you  all,  who  cannot 
believe  that  the  world  has  spoken  its  last  words, 
and  for  whom  faith  remains  still  the  principle 
of  all  that  consoles,  regenerates,  and  exalts  our 
humanity. 

Then  this  question  arises,  inevitably  and  im- 
periously :  As,  to  live,  one  must  believe,  what  is 
necessary  to  make  us  believe  ?  I  reply,  It  is 
necessary  to  kill  Scepticism,  and,  to  kill,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  know  it. 

What,  then,  is  this  Scepticism.  What  is  its 
strength?  How  has  it  corrupted  us,  and  by  what 
means  can  it  be  destroyed  ? 

Scepticism  is  the  abnormal,  unhealthy  doubt  of 
intelligence.  I  say  abnormal  and  unhealthy,  as 
there  is  a  doubt  which  is  both  healthy  and  legitimate. 
Before  a  clearly  perceived  truth  reason  assents  ; 
before  a  plainly  demonstrated  error  it  recoils  and 
dissents.  But  if  it  does  not  clearly  perceive  either 
truth  or  error,  it  hesitates  between  assent  and 
denial  :  this  is  the  wise  and  reflective  doubt,  and 
the  path  which  leads  to  truth.  Far  from  being  an 
evil,  this  state  is  an  intellectual  virtue.  If  we  know 
how  to  doubt  wisely,  we  shall  be  less  easily  carried 
away  by  false  doctrines,  and  will  often  avoid  many 
irreparable  misfortunes. 


SCEPTICISM.  129 

In  what,  then,  does  the  unhealthy,  illegitimate 
doubt  of  reason  consist  ?  In  that  it  refuses  to 
adhere  to  that  which  is  duly  demonstrated,  and 
takes  no  measures  to  quit  uncertainty,  which  is 
a  passing  state,  to  enter  into  conviction,  which  is 
the  definite  and  obligatory  state  of  the  intelligence 
with  regard  to  Truth.  Scepticism  is  of  two  kinds  : 
one  systematic  and  considered,  the  other  uncon- 
sidered and  unconscious. 

I  will  interrogate  the  first  upon  the  great  moral 
and  religious  questions.  "  What  do  you  think  of 
the  spirituality  of  the  soul?"  "According  to  some 
the  soul  is  spiritual,  according  to  others  it  is  only 
matter  ;  for  my  part,  I  don't  know."  "  And  immor- 
tality ?  "  "  Some  affirm  that  the  soul  exists  after 
death,  others  that  it  is  annihilated  ;  for  my  part, 
I  don't  know."  "  And  providence  ?  "  "According 
to  some  it  rules  over  all,  according  to  others 
everything  is  false  ;  for  my  part,  I  don't  know." 

These  are  those  who,  without  following  the  school 
of  any  philosopher,  hesitate  perplexed  before  these 
great  truths  ;  they  all  suffer  from  doubt,  more  or 
less  reflective,  not  formulated  into  a  system. 

Beside  these  are  philosophers  who  say,  "Man 
sees  things  as  they  appear  to  him,  not  as  they  are. 
Ideas  are  forms  of  the  intellect.  To  seize  the  truth 
it  must  be  proved  that  ideas  are  the  exact  image  of 
the  objective  reality  ;  such  a  proof  is  imj)ossible." 
Thus,  after  having  daringly  fathomed  the  very 
depths  of  reason,  they  suspect  its  legitimacy  ;  and 
instead  of  recognizing  as  true  that  which  it  demon- 
strates, they  rebel  against  it,  repeating  the  words 


130  SCIENCE    "WITHOUT    GOD. 

of  Brutus  to  Virtue:  "  Eeason,  thou  art  but  a 
name  !  " 

Is  Scepticism  actually  present  in  modern  society  ? 
Is  it  a  superannuated  doctrine  like  alchemy  or  the 
astronomy  of  Ptolemy,  or  a  living  doctrine,  govern- 
ing and  seducing  men's  minds  ? 

Of  all  errors  it  is,  to  my  thinking,  the  most  wide- 
spread, the  most  blindly  obeyed,  and  the  most  sadly 
influential.  Scepticism  possesses  a  public  school 
and  a  public  instruction  ;  consequently  it  is  armed 
with  the  two  greatest  forces  an  idea  can  make  use 
of  to  subjugate  men's  souls. 

You  are  astonished,  brethren.  You  ask  me  where 
it  is  taught,  where  it  is  proclaimed  ;  you  possibly 
think  it  out  of  date,  like  Kant  and  his  philosophy  ? 
No  :  doubt,  religious  and  philosophical,  always 
exists  ;  its  name  only  is  altered.  It  hides  itself 
under  a  new  title  full  of  prestige  ;  it  calls  itself 
positivism. 

What  does  it  do,  then  ?  Does  it  deny  matter  ? 
On  the  contrary,  it  openly  professes  its  worship,  and 
has  the  pretension  to  know  it  more  completely  than 
any  one  has  known  it  before.  There  is  the  secret 
of  its  influence  and  its  triumphs  in  this  age  athirst 
for  matter,  and  whose  supreme  ambition  is  to  move, 
transform,  and  vanquish  it.  Thus,  what  does 
positivism  say?  "  Matter  alone  exists,  it  is  every- 
thing to  man.  When  you  know  it  and  its  forces, 
you  will  be  masters  of  the  world;  nothing  hence- 
forth will  resist  you.  You  must  seek  for  nothing 
outside  matter.  It  alone  is  certain  ;  the  rest  is  a 
dream.     All    which    concerns   the    soul   or    that 


SCEPTICISM.  131 

which  is  called  God,  all  which  makes  the  domain 
of  philosojDhy  and  religion,  must  be  considered  out 
of  date  by  the  positive  reason  of  this  age  ;  it  is  a 
nightmare  which  our  awakened  minds  must  at 
length  shake  off." 

Know,  then,  my  brethren,  if  there  is  a  doctrine 
well  followed  in  this  our  day,  it  is  that.  I  say  to 
believers  tranquil  in  their  Church,  sleeping  in  their 
faith,  "  Undeceive  yourselves  ;  it  is  not  your  Credo 
that  will  enlighten  and  direct  this  lost  world,  this 
society  adrift."  I  say  to  the  spiritualists,  who 
believe  in  the  persistency  of  their  action,  "  Your 
reign  is  over  !  "  I  say  even  to  the  materialists, 
persuaded  that  their  coarse  and  noisy  declarations 
will  influence  humanity,  "  No,  you  are  not  masters. 
The  error  which  threatens  the  future,  and  which 
sways  young  and  educated  minds,  is  positivism.  It 
holds  a  school  and  an  almost  popular  tone  of 
thought  ;  and  it  knows  how,  with  treacherous  art, 
to  disguise  its  doubts  and  its  denials  under  the 
ardent  worship  of  Science,  its  material  certainties 
and  its  useful  application."  Let  those  whose 
troubled  hearts  interrogate  with  so  much  anguish 
the  destiny  of  humanity,  and  who  believe  that  with 
sterile  regrets  they  can  preserve  the  world  from 
threatened  misfortune,  know  this. 

You  will  answer,  "  Is  not  this  doctrine  as  good 
as  another  ?  Well,  then,  doctrine  for  doctrine,  if 
this  is  the  time  for  a  rejuvenated  Scepticism,  let  it 
reign.  Revelation  has  had  its  day,  spiritualism 
its  day  ;  make  room  for  the  new-comer,  the  hour 
has  arrived  of  a  more  perfect  civilization."  Impos- 


132  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

sible,  my  brethren.  There  can  never  be  room  for 
Scepticism,  for  it  is  the  destruction  and  ruin  of  all 
moral  life  ;  it  can  only  establish  itself  on  corruption 
and  reign  over  the  grave. 

Moral  life  consists  in  the  amelioration  of  one's 
self  :  therein  is  its  very  essence.  It  rests  upon 
conviction  :  therein  is  the  guarantee  of  its  efficacy. 
To  make  myself  better,  I  must  believe  in  good — in 
the  obligation  which  binds  me  to  it  ;  I  must 
believe  in  my  soul — in  a  principle  distinct  from 
matter.  I  must  also  believe  in  my  free  will,  in 
my  responsibility;  for  if  I  am  not  free  and  re- 
sponsible I  cannot  dispose  of  myself,  I  cannot 
lead  myself  to  good  and  fly  from  evil.  I  must 
believe  not  only  in  the  useful,  of  which  I  cannot 
deprive  myself  without  suffering;  in  the  plea- 
sant, of  which  I  cannot  deprive  myself  without 
sacrifice  ;  in  the  necessary,  of  which  I  cannot 
deprive  myself  without  peril;  but  I  must  also 
believe  in  virtue,  that  is  in  goodness,  from  which  I 
cannot  free  myself  without  cowardice  and  disgrace. 
I  must  believe  that  the  heroes  of  duty  were  not 
fools,  nor  duty  an  illusion  ;  and  if  I  leave  this 
world  butchered  by  a  republican,  or  crushed  by  a 
tyrant,  I  must  leave  it  with  a  glad  heart  and  a 
serene  mind,  convinced  that  all  those  who  have 
lived,  those  who  have  suffered,  and  those  who  have 
made  others  suffer,  the  .executioner  and  the  victim, 
will  pass  before  an  avenging  and  incorruptible  law. 
I  must  believe  in  the  eternal  balance  which  weighs 
justly  the  virtues,  sacrifices,  and  martyrdoms  of 
living  souls. 


SCEPTICISM.  133 

If  Scej)ticism  upsets  beliefs,  bow  can  tbe  moral 
life  subsist  ?  If  it  shatters  them  without  mercy,  is 
it  possible  that  the  righteous  man,  the  man  who 
struggles  against  himself,  who  is  utterly  devoted, 
who  does  not  calculate  before  everything  his 
interest  and  his  pleasm^es,  but  who  ever  places 
first  honesty,  justice,  and  self-abnegation — is  it 
possible  that  this  man,  I  say,  can  exist  ?  No,  my 
brethren  ;  all  those  who  are  at  war  with  virtue  are 
void  of  conviction,  and  all  those  who  strive  after 
good  look  towards  God  and  eternity.  The  main- 
spring of  virtue  is  beyond  the  grave. 

What  remains  to  thee,  sceptic  ?  Thou  hast 
overturned  all  ;  matter  alone  has  found  favour. 
But,  great  God  !  what  is  there  in  this  matter  ? 
Pleasure  ;  interest  ;  it  is  a  strange  fairy,  who  has 
but  to  stretch  out  her  wand  and  it  distils  ecstasy 
and  changes  all  to  gold.  And  the  laws  of  matter  ? 
The  laws  of  matter  may  be  summed  up  in  a  word 
that  gives  a  shudder  when  one  feels  one's  self  proud 
and  independent — a  word  that  you,  perhaps,  all 
know  :  force  !  Pleasure,  interest,  force  !  This  is 
the  trinity  which  is  put  in  place  of  that  one  which 
is  called  Sovereign  Intelligence,  Infinite  Love, 
Illimitable  Power  !  And  that  is  the  corner-stone 
upon  which  they  pretend  to  found  Science,  and  to 
establish  the  future  world.  The  future  world  is  too 
large  to  rest  upon  this  grain  of  sand  ;  too  big  to  be 
supported  on  this  atom  !  Tm-n  and  twist  matter 
as  you  may,  analyze  it  and  combine  it  as  much  as 
you  will,  you  will  never  find  more  than  the  atom. 
Now  the  atom,  with  its  three  attributes,  pleasure, 


134  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

force,  and  interest — what  is  it  in  the  presence  of 
moral  life  ?  Pleasure  !  I  am  obliged  to  tread  it 
underfoot  ;  for  moral  life  consists  in  immolating 
one's  self  to  duty  :  when  one  is  a  man  of  pleasure, 
one  cannot  be  a  man  of  virtue.  Interest  !  I  must 
sacrifice  it  at  once  to  something  which  is  dominant 
over  all  else  :  honesty.  Force  !  There  is  a  superior 
law — right — before  which  it  must  bend  itself.  If, 
unfortunately,  I  do  not  recognize  above  force 
another  power,  which  is  called  liberty,  it  is  finished. 
Moral  law  is  henceforward  a  vain  word,  and  the 
human  world,  like  the  other  inferior  ones,  has  only 
to  submit,  crushed,  to  a  blind,  inexorable,  and 
despairing  law  :  fatality. 

Let  us  fly  this  Scepticism  which  undermines  us. 
Let  us  tear  ourselves  away  from  the  deathly  grasp 
of  pleasure,  interest,  and  force  ;  if  not,  we  are  lost. 
Pleasure  penetrates  into  our  very  fibre,  bringing 
with  it  a  host  of  dishonouring  vices,  di'iving  before 
it  generations  wasted  to  the  very  marrow,  who  can 
but  disappear,  since  they  have  no  longer  enough 
blood  to  make  them  worthy  to  live.  Interest  goes 
before  aught  else  ;  the  race  of  egotists  ready  to 
devour  each  other  increases.  Force  prevails  over 
conscience  and  liberty  ;  we  shall  soon  be  but  a 
nation  of  slaves,  understanding,  perhaps,  but  too 
late  that  liberty  no  longer  exists,  and  that  she  has 
left  us  at  the  same  time  as  the  Gospel. 

The  corrosive  power  of  Scepticism  is  exercised 
not  only  against  the  mind  ;  it  directly  attacks  the 
will,  the  very  agent  of  moral  life. 

If  intelligence  perceives  what  is  good,   the  will 


SCEPTICISM.  135 

performs  it.  If  intelligence  is  the  light  of  life,  will 
is  its  strength.  Strange  fact,  in  spite  of  the  mys- 
terious correlation  between  these  two  faculties, 
there  yet  exists  a  certain  independence  between 
them.  One  may  be  a  genius,  yet  not  possess  a 
strong  will  ;  unless  one  has  a  mind  capable  of  strong 
convictions,  no  strength  of  will  can  exist.  You 
find  in  history  men  of  admirable  intelligence,  yet 
with  hearts  of  ice.  Weigh  the  energy  of  their  will  : 
it  is  almost  null  ;  they  are  merely  contemplative, 
and  live  only  with  their  brain.  Look  at  what  we 
call  a  sectarian,  that  man  of  action,  the  propa- 
gandist who  strives  to  rally  proselytes  round  his 
idea  and  make  it  a  banner.  You  will  not  find  a 
large  cranium — the  sectarian  has  a  narrow  head — 
but  always  a  mind  that  grasps  firmly,  4*k«  the 
anchor  does  the  rock,  and  will  not  let  go. 

Those  men  who  have  accomplished  great  things, 
who  by  means  of  an  overpowering  idea  have  stirred 
nations  and  worlds — great  legislators  and  great 
captains,  heads  of  states  and  great  reformers — all 
have  been  armed  with  invincible  convictions.  Also, 
my  brethren,  when  a  doctrine  shakes  the  mind's 
conviction,  it  enervates  by  consequence  the  moral 
force  and  wiU  which  animate  it.  Now,  it  is  the 
very  essence  of  Scepticism  to  ruin  every  conviction 
of  the  mind,  to  strike  the  rock  of  our  thought  and 
reduce  it  to  powder.  And  for  that  reason  one  sees 
nowadays,  under  this  reign  of  doubt  and  under 
the  influence  of  a  thousand  doctrines  before  whose 
wind  all  is  carried  away,  wills  enervated  and 
characters  rendered  weak. 


136  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

How  little  energy  and  determination  there  is  ! 
how  little  vigour  and  spontaneity  !  You  see  every- 
where souls  ready  to  bend  and  be  governed  ;  you 
find  scarcely  anywhere  free  and  independent  souls. 
The  spirit  of  rebellion,  which  has  breathed  over 
the  masses,  has  emancipated  nothing  ;  it  has  only 
multiplied  slavery  under  the  lying  title  of  liberty. 
When  one  is  independent,  one  remains  an  indi- 
vidual ;  one  does  not  become  a  vile  unit  in  an  army 
of  serfs.  Individualities  disappear  ;  herds  increase. 
Look  at  France  ;  a  mountain  yesterday,  to-day 
she  is  but  a  shifting  sand  moved  by  the  storm. 
Scepticism  has  pulverized  her.  It  has  reduced  to 
nothingness  this  nation  which  was  great,  this 
generation  which  was  powerful,  this  race  which 
had  a  name,  and  which,  if  it  does  not  take  care, 
may  perhaps  to-morrow  have  none.  There  was 
once  love,  there  is  now  reviling  ;  there  were 
brothers,  and  there  are  now  enemies.  There  were 
men  there  once  ;  there  are  now  only  corpses, 
skeletons  that  are  moved,  and,  striking  against 
each  other,  break  like  rotten  bones. 

Scepticism  is  like  a  disease  of  the  brain  :  it  is 
incurable.  One  is  cured  of  the  fever  of  pleasure 
which  attracts  youth  ;  one  is  cm-ed  of  ambition,  of 
a  foolish  love  for  things  of  the  earth  ;  one  can  be 
cured  of  every  passion  and  every  vice.  But  when 
religious  and  philosophic  doubt,  sown  in  the  soul, 
has  grown  and  achieved  its  ruin,  the  man  is 
mortally  attacked,  and  he  dies.  Christ  alone  can 
breathe  upon  these  dead  souls  and  revive  them. 
Therefore  do  I  understand  the  cry  of  the  Apostles, 


SCEPTICISM.  137 

"  Lord,  increase  our  Faith."  To  believe  is  a  gift 
of  God.  To  believe  after  having  doubted  is  a 
miracle  of  His  providence. 

Our  age  is  carried  away  by  philosophic  and 
religious  doubt  ;  must  we  then  despair  ?  No  ;  for 
God  watches  over  us,  and  Scepticism  has  not 
invaded  everything.  If  there  are  souls  deeply 
contaminated  by  doubt,  others  are  not  so,  and  ask 
no  better  than  to  believe.  These  souls  we  both 
can  and  ought  to  préservée.  To  do  so  it  is  neces- 
sary to  know  how  in  this  epoch  doubt  spreads  in 
men's  minds. 

This  contagion  arises,  first  of  all,  from  that 
systematic  and  exclusive  instruction  which  limits 
itself  to  the  science  of  matter,  and  which  passes 
over  the  science  of  God  and  the  soul. 

The  instruction  given,  whether  to  the  people  or  to 
the  educated  classes,  is  radically  insufficient.  The 
total  domain  of  intelligence  comprises  three  regions  : 
the  region  of  matter,  the  region  of  the  soul,  the 
region  of  God.  Now,  on  the  very  strength  of  the 
institution  which  governs  us,  and  of  the  routine 
to  which  we  are  bound,  the  young  are  merely 
taught  the  sciences  of  matter.  All  that  concerns 
the  soul,  all  that  touches  upon  God,  is  syste- 
matically put  aside  and  finally  despised.  How 
can  doubt  do  otherwise  than  creep  in  here  ?  Not 
to  doubt  one  must  adhere  to  the  truth  ;  to  adhere 
to  the  truth  one  must  know  it.  If  you  are  not 
taught  it,  you  cannot  know  it  ;  if  you  do  not  know 
it,  you  cannot  adhere  to  it.  As  all  philosophy  is 
proscribed   and  theological  science   forbidden,   as 


138  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

they  neglect  the  synthesis  of  human  knowledge, 
you  are  condemned  to  believe  only  in  the  world 
of  matter,  to  ignore  the  things  of  the  soul  and 
the  mysteries  of  God,  consequently  to  doubt  them. 

You  make  mathematicians — they  are,  I  admit, 
first-rate  ones — you  produce  men  of  science,  and 
Europe  envies  you  them  ;  you  make  men  that  you 
think  great  because  they  can  quell  insm-rections  ; 
but  you  do  not  train  the  master  minds  that  can 
prevent  them  ;  and,  besides,  that  which  you  do  not 
produce — and  it  is  what  we  want  before  everything — 
is  a  thorough  man, — a  man  of  scientific,  philosophical, 
and  religious  thought  :  a  man  whom  the  earth  obeys, 
because  his  science  has  mastered  it  ;  whom  the 
peoj)le  listen  to,  because  he  understands  the  laws 
of  humanity;  and  whom  God  blesses,  because  he 
remains  the  servant  of  God. 

Those  who  are  called  to  direct  the  world  and 
to  govern  come  from  a  school  which  turns  out 
savants,  no  longer  from  the  system  which  produces 
thinkers.  What  has  become  of  this  system  ?  It 
existed  at  the  time  when  our  greatest  geniuses 
flourished.  Then  we  saw  them  in  the  name  of  one 
powerful  idea  shake,  overthrow,  and  regenerate 
nations.  But  to-day  religious  thought  is  veiled 
and  philosophy  seems  crushed;  scarcely  have  we 
any  philosophers  or  any  theologians  ;  statesmen 
have  passed  away;  we  have  only  business  men 
left,  and  they  do  not  see  far  enough  to  see  justly  ; 
therefore  the  world,  deprived  of  its  guides,  turns 
to  Scepticism,  tired  of  groping  for  its  road  in  the 
dark. 


SCEPTICISM.  139 

Beware,  brethren,  lest  this  increasing  Scepticism 
prepares  dark  days  for  us.  When  the  heavens  are 
hid  I  feel  afraid,  for  the  night  is  at  hand.  And 
when  night  falls,  you  approach  the  rocks  without 
seeing  them  !  They  see  you,  imprudent  navigator, 
and  draw  on  your  heedless  ship.  You  jest  to-day, 
in  spite  of  danger,  careless  and  light-hearted  ;  take 
heed,  to-morrow  you  may  strike  upon  the  rock  and 
sink. 

The  number  of  attacks,  of  which  religion  and 
philosophy  are  the  objects,  also  serve  to  nourish 
Scepticism. 

Observe,  brethren — I  wish  to  impress  it  upon 
you — we  do  not  fear  war.  We  do  not  ask  that 
those  who  do  not  think  as  we  do  should  be  gagged. 
It  would  be  neither  wise  nor  humane.  Moreover, 
however  strong  the  gag  we  would  use  to  stifle 
error,  it  would  soon  be  broken.  Eepression  soon 
wearies  ;  false  doctrines,  exasperated  but  not  van- 
quished, explode,  and  their  explosion  is  often  the 
more  terrible,  the'  more  violent  the  restraint  has 
been. 

This  remark  made,  I  resume.  The  attacks  on 
philosoj)hic  and  religious  truth  are  universal  in  this 
age,  and  its  chief  characteristic.  Not  a  day  nor  an 
hour  passes  without  reason  or  faith  having  to  suffer 
some  brutal  and  subtle  aggression.  There  exists 
in  the  world  a  powerful  machine  which  knows  no 
rest.  It  rolls  on  without  ever  tiring,  like  a  steam 
engine,  more  noisy  and  indefatigable  than  the 
waves  of  the  sea  ;  that  is  the  press.  Ask  what  this 
civilized  world  does.     I  can  reply  :  it  prints.     All 


140  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

its  life  is  taken  up  with  writing,  talking,  or  reading. 
Well  !  look  into  what  it  prints  ;  you  will  see  at  the 
bottom  of  everything,  of  literature,  history,  politics, 
science,  and  philosophy,  of  all  serious  ideas  as  of 
all  frivolous  ones,  some  hit  at  the  truths  of  philo- 
sophy and  religion. 

In  other  days  the  attack  was  confined  to  a 
laboratory,  an  amphitheatre,  an  academy,  or  the 
chamber  of  a  savant  ;  to-day,  it  is  everywhere.  It 
taints  the  child  at  school,  the  man  in  the  work- 
shop, the  woman  in  the  drawing-room  or  at  the 
hearth,  and  the  speaker  in  the  public  place.  Every 
truth  is  denied.  God  is  no  more  than  a  dream  ; 
the  soul,  a  myth  ;  liberty,  an  illusion  ;  Providence, 
the  law  of  fate  ;  the  Church,  a  human  institution  ; 
revelation,  a  mere  phenomenon  of  the  conscience  ; 
Christ,  a  philosopher  and  a  great  man.  Never  before 
in  any  age  or  nation  has  such  a  tempest  assailed 
truth.  All  is  shaken.  Conviction  falters — what 
do  I  say?  it  is  a  phenomenon  as  rare  as  the 
antediluvian  beasts.  You  still  see  erudite  men,  but 
you  scarcely  find  men  of  conviction. 

You  live  in  tranquillity,  you  happy  believers, 
kneeling  in  your  churches  with  hands  upraised  to 
heaven  ;  you  enjoy  divine  consolations  ;  you  pray 
for  the  world,  and  have  no  idea  that  a  horrible 
tempest  is  passing  over  it,  breaking  down,  over- 
throwing, and  devastating  everything  !  Whilst 
calm  reigns,  the  sun  shines  and  there  is  not  a 
breath  of  air,  and  the  very  leaves  of  the  trees  are 
motionless.  I  understand  this  inaction.  But  when 
the  tempest  of  doctrine  roars  and  the  whole  land 


SCEPTICISM.  141 

shakes,  it  is  useless  to  close  our  eyes  ;  these 
clamours  strike  us,  and  these  shocks  disturb  us  in 
spite  of  ourselves.  It  is  no  longer  enough  to  pray  ; 
we  must  fight.  You  must  rouse  the  sleeping  Lord, 
and  force  Him  to  interfere  in  the  might  of  His  arm 
to  save  those  that  are  dying.  Arise  and  gird  up 
your  loins  ;  now  is  the  hour  for  the  great  battle  of 
God! 

Brethren,  there  is  a  third  cause  of  Scepticism. 
I  feel  in  speaking  of  it  a  certain  amount  of  reluct- 
ance, yet  truth  compels  me,  and  I  must  bear  it 
witness.  Shall  I  hurt  any  one  here  by  recognizing 
that  the  reply  to  the  universal  objections  raised 
against  our  faith  is  insufficient  ?  I  do  not  say 
insufiicient  in  itself;  truth  can  fear  nothing,  either 
from  the  objection  or  from  those  who  advance  it. 
Truth  is  immutable  ;  whatever  is  said,  whatever  is 
done,  truth  remains.  But  it  may  happen  that,  by 
the  fault  of  the  age  and  the  inferiority  of  the  men, 
truth,  in  itself  irresistible,  has  not  all  the  radiancy 
that  it  should  have,  nor  all  the  triumph  which  is 
its  due. 

Well,  in  my  reserve  and  in  my  sincerity,  after 
the  experience  that  I  have  had  of  the  sceptics  and 
the  sick  souls  of  this  day,  after  the  work  which 
Divine  Providence  has  given  me  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  truth,  I  do  not  fear  to  recognize  the 
fact  that  the  reply  and  the  defence  is  not  always 
equal  to  the  attack  and  the  difficulty. 

That  is  why,  young  people,  you  are  vanquished. 
That  is  why  you  who  live  in  your  age,  astounded 
at   all  that   Science  parades  before  you,  sincere 


142  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

intelligences  eager  for  the  truth — that  is  why  you 
cannot  grasp  it  ;  that  is  why  you  are  a  prey  to 
doubt,  and  oscillate  like  an  edifice  shaken  by  the 
wind,  whose  unsteady  columns  quiver  and  menace 
ruin. 

Is  it  that  God  has  left  us  ?  God  leaves  no  one. 
A  loyal  soul  will  ever  find  that  which  can  enlighten 
it,  always  the  book  of  life,  always  the  man  of  God 
to  interpret  it.  Trust  is  in  the  power  of  the  whole 
world,  and  that  leads  to  Faith. 

What  is  it  necessary  to  know  in  order  to  reply 
victoriously  to  Science  and  Philosophy  ?  The  man 
who  wishes  to  master  those  who  attack  him,  and 
keep  proudly  and  faithfully  his  chiefest  good — 
Faith  ;  the  man  wiio  will  not  flee  from  the  battle- 
field, or  entrench  himself  in  an  easy  disdain,  in  a 
politic  and  pusillanimous  evasion  ;  the  man  who 
wishes  to  say,  "I  believe,  and  I  know  why  I  believe  ;  " 
the  man  who  wishes  to  preserve  this  victorious 
attitude  ; — this  man  must  know  that  Science  and 
that  philosophy  in  whose  name  he  is  attacked, 
and  put  them  in  accordance  with  the  faith  they 
honour. 

No  one  will  be  sufficient  for  this  labour,  say  the 
timid.  No  one  ?  This  is  an  insult  to  human 
intelligence,  a  want  of  respect  for  reason,  for  Faith, 
and  for  the  God  who  has  made  us  men  !  To  reign 
must  Faith  run  away  ?  To  believe  must  intelligence 
veil  its  eyes  ?  Well,  I  tell  you  that  Faith  should 
reign  in  the  world  of  Science  ;  I  tell  you  that  she 
should  enter  into  the  laboratories  and  amphi- 
theatres,   wherever    Science    works,   in    order    to 


SCEPTICISM.  143 

complete  it  by  imparting  to  it  her  divine  light. 
And  know  well  that  we  have  nothing  to  fear  from 
Science  and  from  the  thousand  obstacles  that  are 
raised  in  its  name.  But  to  show  that  we  are  in- 
vincible against  it,  we  must  know  it  like  those  who 
practise  it,  and  not  desert  the  battlefield  and  refuse 
the  combat.  We  must  reunite  in  the  whole 
synthesis  Science  and  Faith,  and  prove  by  its 
very  example  that  if  Science  illuminates  the  earth 
on  which  we  are  held  captive.  Science  and  Faith, 
mingling  together  their  rays,  can  alone  illumine 
and  penetrate  into  the  heavens  to  which  all  our 
thoughts  and  aspirations  are  turned.  How  shall 
we  keep  from  doubt  those  minds  that  it  threatens  ? 
This  is  the  question  to  solve.  The  work  is  difficult, 
but  necessary. 

And,  first  of  all,  my  brethren,  jou  who  have  the 
forms  of  your  belief,  remember  that  Faith  is  not 
to  be  defended  by  either  abuse,  violence,  or  pas- 
sion. Abuse  ?  They  will  abuse  you  more  cruelly. 
Violence  ?  They  will  oppose  worse.  Passion  ?  It 
never  yet  proved  anything.  The  old  proverb  is 
well  spoken,  "  Those  who  are  angry  are  in  the 
wrong."  Nothing  is  calmer  than  Eight.  A  man  on 
the  side  of  truth  never  lets  himself  be  troubled  by 
anger  ;  the  tranquil  genius  is  that  most  insph'ed 
by  religious  faith.  Look  at  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas. 
"When  you  look  into  the  deej)  thoughts  of  this  man, 
they  seem  to  you  like  those  super-terrestrial  regions 
where  the  air  currents  can  still  be  felt,  but  where 
tempests  cannot  reach.  Look  into  inferior  souls  : 
there   the   volcano  rumbles  ;   and  in  the  scarcely 


144  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

formed  earth,  you  feel  each  disturbance  and  hear 
each  groan  of  misery,  sad  attribute  of  earthly 
being.  Would  you  master  those  who  attack  you  ? 
You  must  do  this  ;  learn  and  arm  yourself.  Learn 
those  religious  and  philosophic  truths  which  you 
ignore;  arm  and  fit  yourself  for  war  by  taking, 
not  a  material  sword,  but  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  ; 
for  the  Spmt  of  God  has  its  own  sword  and  its 
own  armour. 

Is  such  instruction  possible  ?  I  reply  it  is  ;  it  is 
necessary,  and  I  would  say  to  all  Catholics,  all 
Christians  really  anxious  for  their  faith.  If  you 
wish  to  produce  souls  religiously  convinced,  re- 
nounce all  false  systems  of  a  "  Science  without  God," 
and  introduce  into  the  education  and  instruction 
of  young  men  philosophy  and  religion — not  the 
religion  of  the  Catechism,  but  the  religion  of 
Theology.  There  are  but  two  means  of  preserving 
their  faith  :  either  put  them  into  a  world  apart, 
send  them  into  deserts  or  mountains  in  order  that 
they  shall  not  breathe  the  air  tainted  with  false 
doctrines — in  short,  prevent  their  thinking  or 
living  ;  or  make  of  them  serious  intelligences  and 
learned  believers — if  you  like,  theologians.  This  is, 
I  know,  only  possible  with  exceptional  minds  ;  but 
the  others  have  nothing  to  fear.  A  hmited  in- 
telligence is  in  no  danger  from  bad  Science,  since 
it  is  not  open  to  good.  Have  no  fear  for  it  ;  God 
protects  such  by  their  very  simplicity.  Build,  if 
you  will,  hospitals  for  the  sick  ;  but  make  camps 
for  the  valiant  and  the  robust.  To  seek  for  the 
dying  is  a  good  work  ;  to  strengthen  the  living  is 
a  better. 


SCEPTICISM.  145 

That  about  ^liicli  I  am  before  all  anxious,  is 
the  open  intelligence  ;  that  which  touches  my 
heart  is  the  young  man  whom  I  see  grow  up  with 
eyes  full  of  intelligence,  a  countenance  full  of 
candour,  a  soul  full  of  passion.  This  it  is  that 
absorbs  my  interest  ;  this  it  is  that  I  seek  to  reach. 
I  do  not  want  to  save  the  sick  ;  it  is  the  living  that 
I  would  cure.  Well,  then,  I  tell  this  young  man, 
"  If  you  would  keep  inviolate  your  faith,  you  must 
study.  If  you  would  defend  yourself  against  the 
unbeliever,  you  must  know  more  than  he." 

To  teach  one's  self  is  not  easy;  to  understand 
one's  religion  in  spirit  and  in  truth  is  no  slight 
task.  Where  shall  we  go  ?  After  twenty  years  of 
age  there  is  no  more  school  for  a  young  man  ;  and 
yet  it  is  then  that  one  must  learn.  It  is  not  at 
fifteen  that  one  can  measure  the  life  of  Christ,  and 
grasp  the  dimensions  of  that  Divine  Colossus  who 
fills  and  rules  all  history,  comprehend  the  im- 
mensity of  the  heavens  to  know  what  God  has  done, 
and  see  in  the  secular  development  of  humanity 
the  laws  of  Providence  !  You  only  take  oath  to 
defend  the  laws  of  your  country  at  twenty  ;  and 
it  is  as  much  as  you  can  do  at  that  age  to  com- 
prehend the  profundity  of  religion.  You  should 
study  Science  up  to  this  age  :  but  do  not  think 
that  on  leaving  college  you  are  a  man  ;  you  know 
nothing  yet,  but  that  you  may  become  one.  Say  to 
yourself  only  that  the  time  has  now  come  to  study 
the  great  mysteries  of  the  soul,  to  look  into  the 
unfathomable  mysteries  of  God.  Then  perhaps 
you  may  be  capable  of  reasoning  upon  high  moral 

L 


146  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

truths,  and  of  commencing  at  length  the  practical 
interpretation  of  the  Catholic  faith.  For  if  there 
is  a  thing  which  demands  in  its  study  all  earnest- 
ness of  heart,  all  vigour  of  intelligence,  all  energy 
of  youth,  it  is  neither  glory,  nor  ambition,  nor 
loye,  nor  Science  ;  but  it  is  the  immortal  destiny 
of  the  soul — it  is  Christ  and  God  ! 

I  also  said  that  an  armed  and  warlike  instruction 
was  necessary. 

By  these  somewhat  forcible  expressions,  w^hich 
seem  best  to  express  my  thought,  I  mean  that 
there  is  a  pacific  instruction  which  prepares  the 
soul  simply  to  maintain  its  faith  ;  and  there  is 
also  a  warlike  and  defensive  instruction  which 
prepares  the  soul  to  defend  its  faith,  and  which 
arms  it  against  all  objection. 

Faith  and  religion  are  scientifically  attacked; 
consequently  a  pacific  instruction  is  no  longer 
sufficient,  and  an  aggressive  instruction  is  im- 
perative— I  mean  that  instruction  which  concen- 
trates the  attention  of  the  young  man  upon  all 
those  difficulties  of  which  his  faith  can  be  the 
object,  which  does  not  content  itself  with  setting 
forth  the  truth,  but  which  will  teach  him  the  art 
of  replying  victoriously  to  the  objection. 

If  we  are  not  thus  armed,  brethren,  if  we  do  not 
see  clearly  all  the  manifold  aggressions  of  which 
truth  is  the  aim  in  literature,  in  history,  in  science, 
and  in  philosophy,  we  are  vanquished.  There  will 
occur  a  phenomenon,  very  common  to-day,  and 
which,  to  my  idea,  is  the  most  exact  explanation 
of  religious  Scepticism  in  a  great  number  of  minds. 


SCEPTICISM.  147 

This  phenomenon  is  a  phenomenon  of  oscillation. 
They  do  not  deny  ;  they  do  not  believe  ;  they 
hesitate.  They  say,  "If,  however,  this  is  not  true  ? 
If  Christ  is  no  more  than  a  man  ?  If  God  is  but 
the  émanant  law  of  things  ?  If  the  future  life  is 
but  a  dream  ?    Without   doubt,  I  believe  ;   but — 

but "     There  are  huts  in  the  faith  of  believers  ; 

and  every  sincere  mind  not  willing  to  live  in  an 
illusion  discovers  these  huts.  But,  you  may  have 
asked  yourselves,  to  what  does  this  lead  ?  It 
leads  to  the  many  objections  which  have  not  been 
answered  in  a  precise,  evident,  and  unflinching 
manner.  Every  objection  unanswered  carries  into 
the  soul  the  sting  of  doubt  ;  it  is  a  ball  that  has 
struck  us,  and  has  not  been  extracted.  It  travels 
in  our  body,  and  we  cannot  move  without  exclaim- 
ing, "It  is  there  ;  I  feel  it  !  "  Well,  then,  it  is 
time  that  the  objections  should  be  vanquished  and 
the  ball  extracted. 

Let  us  be  careful  not  to  say  to  the  man  who 
doubts,  "  Silence  the  difficulty,  drive  it  out."  No; 
we  must  say  to  him,  "  Triumph  over  the  difficulty; 
it  is  a  necessary  work,  and  the  solidity  and  honour 
of  your  convictions  depend  on  it." 

Beside  the  pastor  who  keeps  the  faithful,  beside 
the  apostle  announcing  to  those  who  have  never 
heard  it  the  good  tidings  of  the  Gospel,  beside  the 
traditional  doctor  teaching  what  has  always  been 
taught,  I  call,  then,  the  doctor  armed  and  militant, 
w^ho  can  grasp  every  difficulty  and  give  the 
reply  without  hesitation,  who  does  not  wait  for  the 
attack,   but   carries   the   battle   into   the   enemy's 


148  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

ranks,  and  bravely  takes  the  offensive.  We  have 
pastors  that  the  whole  world  admires  ;  we  have 
apostles  fearless  in  carrying  their  message  of  peace 
and  consolation  ;  we  have  even  doctors  buried  in 
old  parchments,  initiated  in  all  ancient  tradition  ; 
we  require  younger  doctors,  who  live  in  the  enemy's 
camp  and  surprise  the  objection  even  before  it  is 
raised — a  valiant  legion,  holding  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  marching  before  to  clear  aside  the  doctrines 
of  death,  and  show  the  road  to  those  intelligences 
which  to-day  can  see  it  no  longer. 

Let  this  legion  haste,  for  night  draws  nigh. 
Why,  0  men  of  God,  are  you  not  there  to  trans- 
late into  modern  language  those  ancient  truths, 
the  eternal  patrimony  of  believing  souls  ?  You 
announce  to  us  the  mysteries  of  God,  but  your 
words  do  not  reach  us.  Speak  to  us,  then,  in  a 
language  we  can  understand.  We  have  lost  all 
memory  of  our  childhood's  tongue — it  is  possible, 
0  doctors  !  Speak  to  us,  then,  in  our  barbaric 
dialect.  What  matter  the  expression?  It  is  the 
truth  we  want  ;  it  is  the  truth  whose  privation  is 
killing  us. 

Pray,  my  brethren,  that  the  great  Gospel  may 
shine  forth,  and  with  it  faith  revive  !  It  will 
revive  only  when  we  come  in  a  mass  to  announce 
to  this  world,  which  no  longer  understands  them, 
the  mysteries  of  God.  It  wants  the  teaching,  we 
well  know,  we  who  are  of  this  age,  who  share  the 
blood  of  this  same  youth,  its  aspirations,  its  hopes  ; 
we  who  know  its  intelligence  and  the  objections 
which  torture  it.     The  day  on  which  we  come  to 


SCEPTICISM.  149 

interpret  God  it  will  understand  and  hold  us  out 
its  band.  If  to-day  it  tui-ns  from  us,  be  assured 
it  is  only  tbat  we  debase  before  it  Him  whom  we 
can  never  exalt. 

It  is  wrong  tbat  it  sbould  be  so,  say  those  without 
pity.  Doubtless,  the  world  is  wrong  to  be  sick  at 
heart,  to  be  weak,  to  have  a  bullet  in  the  head  ; 
but,  nevertheless,  it  is  both  sick  and  wounded. 
Take  your  part,  then,  and  drive  away  the  clouds 
from  these  lost  and  wounded  creatm-es  ;  blow  upon 
this  thick  mist,  and  make  a  new  star  shine  before 
them. 

Who  would  let  these  perish  ?  They  can  live  only 
by  the  truth,  but  it  must  be  the  entire  truth.  The 
earthly  light  of  Science  will  not  sufiice  ;  being  ex- 
clusive, it  blinds  instead  of  enlightening.  The 
undecided  teaching  of  a  mutilated  philosophy  is 
not  enough  for  the  greatness  of  the  problems  that 
must  be  solved.  They  require  the  oracles  of 
Eternity.     Be  it  our  task,  then,  to  translate  them. 


FIFTH  DISCOUESE. 
peactical  atheism. 

My  Brethren, 

The  word  of  command  is  given  :  the 
mind  of  man  is  to  be  imprisoned  in  the  universe 
and  divorced  from  God. 

All  these  systems  tend  to  this  divorce  and  limit 
us  :  positivism  by  suppressing  the  principle  of 
causahty,  and  closing  every  road  by  which  reason 
raises  itself  to  God  ;  materialism  by  applying  the 
same  principle  of  causality,  and  binding  us  down 
to  that  matter  which  it  makes  the  universal  cause  ; 
atheistic  pantheism  by  confessing  a  false  Infinite, 
identical  with  the  world,  émanant  but  not  trans- 
cendent cause  of  all  things. 

Beware  of  these  systems,  my  brethren.  If  you 
accept  them,  you  are  enclosed  in  the  universe 
without  power  to  leave  it.  Call  it,  if  you  like,  a 
collection  of  phenomena  with  positivism,  an  atom 
of  matter  with  materialism,  the  great  All  with 
pantheism — it  matters  little  what  name — and  the 
universe  will    be    the   gaol   and  your   spirit    the 


PRACTICAL   ATHEISM.  151 

prisoner;    and  we   can    say  of    the   prison    with 
the  poet — 

"  Over  the  door  they  wrote.  God  is  forbidden  to  enter." 

Is  this  work  of  Atheism  possible  ?  Why  not  ? 
People  say  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  Atheist  ; 
there  cannot  be.  Those  who  proclaim  themselves 
as  such  deceive  themselves  ;  their  heart  protests 
against  their  thought,  and  their  inward  thought 
gives  the  lie  to  the  words  which  fall  from  their 
lips.  Doubtless  man  is  not  born  Atheist,  but  he 
can  become  so  ;  and  wiiat  is  necessary  ?  To  drive 
away  God  from  your  soul  ;  to  say  to  Him,  "  Away  ! 
you  importune  me."  To  say  to  that  thought 
which  is  called  the  idea  of  God,  "Away  from  me, 
j)hantom  !"  To  say  to  the  love  of  the  Infinite, 
"You  are  my  torture,  I  will  stifle  you!"  To  say 
to  that  Supreme  Law  which  is  called  God,  "  Heavy 
chain,  it  is  time  that  I  should  break  you  !"  To  cry, 
indeed,  before  those  perspectives  of  eternity  of 
which  no  intelligent  being  will  ever  fathom  the 
depths,  "  Let  a  cm-tain  fall  for  ever  and  hide  from 
my  sight  this  horizon  which  is  my  torment.  There 
arise  from  thence  spectres  which  I  would  fain 
dismiss." 

Strange  and  revolting  language  !  Well,  man  is 
capable  of  speaking  thus.  A  free  being,  he  can 
banish  from  his  heart  a  friend,  from  his  thoughts 
an  image  which  oppresses  him  ;  he  can  also  expel 
God. 

Then  he  enters  upon  Practical  Atheism.  He 
soon  lives  as  though  God  did  not  exist.     He  never 


152  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

thinks  of  God,  or  only  at  rare  intervals.  He  does 
not  like  Him  ;  God  is  indifferent  to  him.  He  does 
not  fear,  he  forgets  Him.  He  does  not  invoke 
Him;  he  treats  Him  as  a  stranger.  Unbridled 
passions  drift  him  along;  he  plunges  madly  into 
the  wave,  and  cannot  master  it  in  God's  name. 
In  the  day  of  anguish,  when  every  creature  lifts  up 
its  head  and  cries  aloud  to  God,  he  remains  stolid, 
without  a  prayer,  without  blasphemy,  and  his 
sorrow  weighs  upon  him  like  the  marble  of  a  tomb. 
How  many  men  there  are  to-day  given  over  to  this 
Atheism  !  How  many  sorrowful  women  driven 
into  these  desolate  regions  !  Before  plunging  into 
the  abyss,  the  heart  of  a  woman  is  more  than  once 
troubled  ;  her  religious  soul  recoils  and  hesitates. 
Man  is  precipitated  into  it  with  violence.  He  also 
endeavours  to  stay  himself  upon  the  fatal  incline 
to  which  the  whirlwind  of  business,  of  passion,  and 
of  doctrine  drags  him,  but  in  vain  ;  the  whirlwind 
carries  him  away,  and  the  man  succeeds  but  too 
well  in  driving  God  from  his  home,  his  hearth, 
and  his  country.  Nations,  in  turn,  banish  God 
from  their  laws;  they  live  as  though  Providence 
had  never  watched  over  their  race,  blessed  their 
standards,  conducted  their  armies  to  victory,  sanc- 
tioned their  laws,  presided  over  their  destinies. 

But,  meanwhile,  think  not  that,  having  arrived 
at  this  state,  men  can  live  in  tranquillity.  Atheism 
is  not  a  habitable  land;  it  is  a  breakwater  in  a 
stormy  sea,  a  bleak  rock,  against  which  you  may 
be  thrown  and  mangled,  but  on  which  you  cannot 
land. 


PKACTICAL    ATHEISM.  153 

Do  I  need  the  aid  of  metaphysics,  of  speculative 
and  abstract  reason,  to  prove  to  the  Atheist  how 
weak  and  ineffectual  his  efforts  against  God  are — 
to  show  him  how  tragic  is  his  despairing  doctrine  ? 
No  ;  I  will  bring  it  home  to  him  by  that  which 
touches  his  very  heart  and  soul,  the  strongest  and 
most  living  witness  of  God  in  the  world. 

Two  things  prevent  him,  then,  from  tranquil 
enjoyment  of  the  sloth  and  oblivion  he  desires,  and 
rise  up  like  nightmares  to  startle  him  out  of  his 
lethargy. 

The  first  is  injustice  victorious. 

My  brethren,  you  have  all,  have  you  not,  met 
with  crime  triumphant  ?  You  have  seen  men  and 
nations  tortured  by  injustice  and  crushed  by 
tyranny  ?  Before  such  a  spectacle,  have  you  said 
with  a  bitter  resignation,  "  It  is  a  stroke  of  fate  "  ? 
What  conclusion  would  you  draw  ?  The  conclusion 
I  draw  is — God.  How  !  an  innocent  being  is  per- 
secuted by  the  world,  an  honest  man  succumbs  and 
dies,  branded  by  injustice,  and  you  say,  "  So  much 
the  worse  for  him  !  "  Well,  I  do  not  say  "  so  much 
the  worse,"  my  brethren.  Conscience,  too,  does 
not  say  "  so  much  the  worse."  No  ;  she  rises  up 
from  the  block  upon  which  the  head  has  fallen, 
she  mounts  the  scaffold  upon  which  the  blood  of 
the  just  has  been  outpoured,  as  if  it  were  an  altar, 
and  looking  higher  than  the  earth,  she  cries,  "  I 
appeal  to  God,  who  sees  and  judges.  To-day  is 
the  hour  of  injustice  ;  to-morrow  it  will  be  that 
of  justice  and  retribution.     I  can  wait." 

My  brethren,  one  may  be  an  Atheist  during  the 


154  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

intoxication  of  pleasure;  earthly  joys  frequently 
hide  heaven  from  our  eyes.  One  is  never  an 
Atheist  when  struggling  against  injustice.  There 
have  been  scientific  Atheists,  Atheistic  writers  and 
false  poets,  and  Atheistic  politicians  ;  but  do  you 
know  where  Practical  Atheism  has  never  yet  been 
found?  Amongst  those  who  were  persecuted  for 
righteousness'  sake — amongst  the  martyrs.  The 
executioners  indeed  may  be  Atheists;  the  victims 
never. 

0  outraged,  oppressed  conscience  !  Thou  art 
the  last  inviolable  refuge  whither,  to  defy  those 
who  would  banish  Him,  God  withdraws  Himself. 
There,  brethren,  He  is  invincible. 

To  be  a  martyr  is  not  given  to  all.  Some  live 
their  life  here  without  ever  encountering  injustice  ; 
they  die  innocent  and  blest  without  having  had  to 
tremble  before  the  executioner,  and  quit  this  world 
serene  and  happy,  as  though  no  evil  existed  and 
wrong  never  triumphed  over  right.  Such  are  the 
elect  and  chosen  of  God,  blessed  by  His  peculiar 
providence  and  raised  above  this  world  of  strife. 

But,  my  brethren,  there  is  one  thing  we  have  all 
known.  Does  the  man  live  whose  heart  has  not 
been  touched  at  least  once  ?  Does  the  man  live 
who  has  not  felt  his  heart  beat  more  rapidly,  and 
who  has  not  at  some  time  said,  "  I  love.  I  love 
that  one  who  is  good,  honest,  and  noble  ;  whose 
affection  has  given  me  life,  whose  soul  vibrates  in 
unison  with  mine  "  ?  Nevertheless,  however  vehe- 
ment the  love,  a  fatal  hour  arrives,  the  beloved 
soul  passes  away,  and  that  soul  into  whose  very 


PKACTICAL    ATHEISM.  155 

depths  we  have  looked,  and  where  we  had  fixed  our 
every  hoi^e  and  longing,  that  second  self  leaves  us  ! 

Then,  brethren,  when  we  love,  and  when  we 
behold  the  death  of  those  we  love,  I  ask,  is  Atheism 
possible  ? 

Before  the  open  gulf  of  the  tomb,  what  says 
positivism  to  the  anguished  heart  ?  It  is  silent. 
But  it  is  just  that  which  makes  us  despair. 
Pushed  to  extremity,  it  talks  vaguely  of  the  sur- 
vival of  humanity.  Humanity  ?  What  does  that 
mean  ?  And  again  the  lost  one  even  there  remains 
but  a  recollection — but  it  is  not  a  recollection  I 
want,  it  is  a  living  reality — that  alone  will  suffice 
me  !  Ah  !  you  who  no  longer  believe  in  God,  be 
silent  before  love  made  desperate  by  death  ;  utter 
silence  is  better  than  illusory  consolation. 

And  the  materialist?  What  can  he  offer  to 
the  despairing  heart  '?  Nothing  ;  only  his  eternal 
"matter."  He  may  turn  and  twist  it  as  he  likes, 
but  he  cannot  find  in  it  consolation  for  the  smallest 
grief,  nor  the  power  to  dry  a  single  tear.  The 
pantheist  in  his  turn  invokes  in  anguish  his 
shadowy  "  Infinite  ;  "  but  this  blind  and  inexorable 
force,  which  produces  everything  without  thought, 
and  destroys  them  impassibly,  can  but  add  to  our 
despair. 

You  then  who  have  loved,  and  whose  heart  cries 
out  full  of  hoj)e,  "I  can  carry  my  love  with  me 
into  eternity  !"  if  you  are  without  God,  bury  your 
love  together  with  the  beloved  one  in  the  grave  : 
all  is  finished.  There  is  no  other  alternative  ;  you 
must  choose  between  faith  and  despair. 


156  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

God  suppressed,  the  supremely  good  and  intelli- 
gent One  thrust  away,  our  horizon  darkens;  it 
becomes  veiled  in  impenetrable  clouds,  and  all 
those  who  cease  to  believe  in  God  knock  in  vain  at 
the  door  of  the  tomb  to  discover  its  secret.  Despair 
is  the  only  reply. 

0  sceptic  !  0  Atheist  !  I  leave  you  to  your 
doctrines  and  your  despair  !  There  is  no  need  for 
argument  here.  Keep  them,  keep  the  mournful 
light  of  your  heartless  Science  !  I  will  confess 
before  all  Him  to  whom  I  owe  the  love  which  gives 
life  to  my  soul,  and  who  alone  assures  me  of  its 
immortality.  Against  that  death  which  would 
crush  me  God  is  my  only  refuge  ;  and  in  the  name 
of  Christ  I  defy  it. 

Before  the  presence  of  Eight  struggling  with 
Might,  before  Love  struggling  against  Death,  be 
not  surj)rised,  my  brethren,  that  the  believer 
should  rise  up  with  supreme  energy,  and  that  his 
faith  should  become  invincible.  In  what  is  it 
astonishing  that  the  vibration  of  our  heart  should 
give  forth  a  sound  incomprehensible  to  Science  ? 
Must  one  renounce  necessary  truth  because  our 
hearts  and  consciences  proclaim  them  more  strongly 
perhaps  than  our  reason  ? 

1  have  ah-eady  spoke  to  you  of  the  great  German 
philosopher  Kant  ;  I  mention  him  again,  as  he  has 
in  this  age  and  country  considerable  influence  over 
men's  minds.  Kant  has  written  two  books,  ''  The 
Criticism  of  Pure  Keason  "  and  "  The  Criticism  of 
Practical  Pteason."     You  think,  possibly,  that  both 


PRACTICAL    ATHEISM.  157 

these  books  lead  to  tlie  same  conclusion  ?  Not  at 
all.  In  the  first,  with  regard  to  the  logical  and 
ontological  principles  of  things,  Kant  is  a  sceptic. 
He  says,  "  The  human  mind  has  its  form  ;  it  sees 
realities  as  it  is,  not  as  they  are,"  and  Kant  cannot 
conclude  the  objective  reality  of  the  conceptions 
of  reason.  But,  in  the  "  Criticism  of  Practical 
Eeason,"  his  destructive  analysis  is  arrested. 
What  has  it  encountered  ?  That  which  we  call 
love  and  justice  ;  Kant  calls  it  duty,  a  more 
vigorous  term  for  a  philosopher.  The  patriarch 
of  sceptics,  wiser  and  more  intelligent  than  the 
philosophers  of  to-day,  before  duty  retraces  his 
steps.  "  Duty  is  a  realit}^  !  "  he  exclaims.  "  In  the 
presence  of  duty  I  bow  down."  He  believes  in 
the  objective  reality  of  the  truths  of  practical 
reason,  he  upsets  the  doctrine  of  his  previous  work, 
and,  not  afraid  to  contradict  himself,  constructs 
upon  duty  a  complete  theodicy. 

Brethren,  this  example,  borrowed  from  the  land 
of  doubt,  is  neither  catholic  nor  Christian.  No 
matter  ;  I  quote  it  on  the  side  of  reason,  as  against 
those  who  shelter  themselves  under  the  genius  of 
Kant,  in  order  to  destroy  reason  :  they  should  at 
least,  like  him,  respect  the  impassable  limits  before 
which  even  his  daring  criticism  was  arrested.  But 
no,  these  limits  are  violated  perpetually.  Atheism 
increases  and  takes  possession  of  souls.  Those 
young  men  to  whom  I  speak  will  bear  me  out  in 
this.  Those  who,  being  young,  are  sincere  and 
open,  and  who  do  not  fear  to  say  what  passes  in 
their  minds,  and  whose  minds  feel  most   keenly 


158  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

and  impetuously  the  struggle  of  doubt  and  belief — 
those,  I  say,  will  not  hesitate,  if  I  ask  them,  to 
admit  it.  "  Yes,  we  are  carried  away  from  God. 
What  demon  drags  us  we  know  not  ;  but  faith  and 
old  beliefs  are  without  attraction  for  us,  we  are 
fascinated  by  those  doctrines  which  assail  them  so 
furiously.  Enthusiasm  for  the  things  of  heaven  is 
extinct  ;  we  have  scarcely  any  for  the  things  of  the 
earth.  Our  blood  is  frozen.  It  seems  as  though 
a  long  day  was  just  ended,  and  that  an  immense 
chilly  night  was  gradually  falHng  around  us." 

Behold  the  doctrines  which  are  leading  this 
generation  astray  !  These  are  the  systems  advocated 
in  successful  books,  taught  by  renowned  professors. 
Public  favour  is  on  their  side  ;  the  people  applaud 
without  understanding  them  ;  men  of  letters  cringe 
— often  without  replying.  Take  care,  my  brethren  ! 
Beware  the  consequences  of  error  ;  they  are  terrible, 
like  those  brain  maladies  which  betray  no  sign 
of  their  existence,  and  which,  long  hidden,  break 
forth  in  some  sudden  and  tragical  death  !  People 
are  only  anxious  about  the  visible  and  the  imme- 
diate ;  they  are  reassured  by  false  appearances. 
They  say,  "  There  will  always  be  time  to  think  about 
that  to-morrow."  What  indeed  do  you  see,  you 
careful  ones  ?  You  see  very  far  when  your 
possessions  are  menaced.  Statesmen,  what  do  you 
see  ?  You  see  very  clearly  when  your  power  is 
in  danger.  Ministers  and  leaders  of  your  country, 
what  do  you  see  ?  Y^ou  see  the  danger  when  the 
frontier  of  a  country  is  threatened.  But  that  the 
doctrine   of    a  whole   race   or    nation    should   be 


PRACTICAL   ATHEISM.  159 

attainted,  that   the   bram  of  a  whole  generation 
should  be  deformed,  by  an  unhealthy  education  and 
dissolute  teaching,   who  cares  ?   who  is    anxious  ? 
You  cry  out  when  incendiaries  burn  your  houses, 
when  a  rebellious  mob  overturns  a  throne,  or  when 
the  stranger  invades  your  land;    but  do  you  ask 
what  incites  the  incendiary,  what  ideas  undermine 
your   power,  what  crimes  draw  down  upon   your 
country  defeat  and  invasion  ?     You  ask  yourselves 
so  little  these  questions,  that  in  the  presence  of 
the  very  doctrines  which  produce   these  scourges 
you  are  silent  ;    and  when  a  book  has    appeared 
and  eloquent  voices  have  spoken,  or  the  blood  of 
some  great  criminal  has  flowed,  you  go  to  sleep 
again,  satisfied  that  truth  and  justice  are  sufficiently 
avenged.    What  is  the  good  ?  there  are  other  things 
quite  as  important.     Nothing,  brethren — not  even 
your  financial  security,  not  even  your  social  security, 
not  even  your  political  security — nothing,   I  tell 
you,    is    more    important    than    the    truth  ;    for 
financial,   social,  and   political   security  have  but 
one  single  corner-stone  :    truth.      It  is   by   truth 
that  everything  resists  and  triumphs  ;  it  is  by  error 
that  everything  falls  to  pieces  and  perishes.     And 
if  you  do  not  watch  over  the  truth  which  is  assailed 
on  all  sides,  your  decadence  is  prepared  ;  you  are 
marked  for  death. 

Ah  !  if  I  could  but  instil  into  the  souls  of  this 
generation,  of  this  whole  country,  my  convictions 
and  my  ardour,  my  fears  and  my  hopes,  there 
would  rise  up  among  us  men  of  prudence  and 
daring,  as  resolute  in  defending  the  truth  as  others 


160  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

in  defending  property.  Property  is  the  truth  em- 
bodied in  a  Httle  land  ;  truth  is  jDroperty  in  the  divine 
estate,  that  of  conviction.  Property  does  not  exist 
by  itself;  it  has  a  foundation — right.  And  what 
is  right,  but  truth  ? 

Thus,  brethren,  you  see  yourselves  obliged  to 
watch,  under  pain  of  death,  over  that  truth  of 
which  Atheism  is  the  ruin.  Let  us  come,  then, 
to  fact,  and  expose  the  consequences  of  a  life  with- 
out God.  In  the  question  of  Practical  Atheism 
society  and  the  soul  are  directly  interested  ;  the 
soul  as  the  focus  of  all  human  activity,  society 
as  the  sphere  in  which  that  activity  moves. 

What  effect  has  the  suppression  of  God  on  the 
soul  ? 

First  of  all,  what  is  the  soul  ?  Four  words 
reveal  it  :  truth,  rectitude,  love,  and  happiness. 
Truth  ;  for  the  soul  is  intelligent  and  seeks  only 
to  know  it.  Pieetitude  :  the  soul  is  free  and  honest, 
and  must  respect  it.  Love  ;  the  soul  was  not 
created  alone,  it  is  from  the  beginning  family  and 
nation  ;  it  is  created  to  love.  Hap]3iness  :  it  is 
the  cry  of  all,  that  is,  of  all  that  lives  ;  it  is  the 
insatiable  passion  of  the  intelligent  free  and  living 
soul.  Thus  you  have  in  four  words  the  secret 
of  yourselves,  a  secret  long  sought  for,  perhaps, 
and  hiding  many  joys  and  many  sorrows,  much 
greatness  and  much  miser3\ 

Put  into  a  being  thus  formed  Practical  Atheism, 
what  becomes  of  the  truth  ?  It  becomes  simply 
a  torment,  because  it  is  made  an  impossibility.  If 
we  suppress  God  we  can  never  arrive  at  that  truth 


PRACTICAL   ATHEISM.  161 

we  long  to  know,  and  from  henceforth  our  intelh- 
gence  is  condemned  to  a  long  martyrdom.  What 
indeed  do  you  as  intelligent  beings  wish  most  of 
all  to  know  ?  The  nature  and  property  of  things  ? 
The  little  mysteries  of  the  earth,  or  the  great 
mysteries  of  heaven?  No,  nothing  of  all  that 
Science  can  show  us,  when  we  have  fathomed  its 
fii-st  elements  and  its  supreme  conclusions  can 
satisfy  us.  Science  ?  It  treats  only  of  phenomena, 
our  intelligence  seeks  to  know  that  which  is  beneath  ; 
it  does  not  stop  at  the  consequence,  it  wishes  to 
know  the  cause.  Now,  brethren.  Atheism  suppresses 
the  principle  and  the  cause,  and  if  it  consents  to 
leave  them  to  us,  it  puts  before  us  a  false  principle 
and  a  ridiculous  cause,  which  not  only  does  not 
explain  things,  but  does  not  even  explain  itself. 
But  what  do  I  say  ?  It  stops  us  brusquely,  in  the 
name  of  positivism.  According  to  it,  we  must 
no  longer  seek  for  a  principle  or  a  cause  ;  we  are 
limited  absolutely  to  phenomena.  But  we  repudiate 
the  declarations  of  positivism — humanity  has  never 
submitted  to  them;  and  it  is  not  after  the  long 
experience  of  centuries  that  we  are  to  be  persuaded 
that  they  will  accept  them  to-day.  The  surface 
of  our  nature  may  vary,  its  essential  wants  are 
unalterable.  We  have  always  sought  for  God,  we 
always  seek  for  Him  obstinately  and  restlessly,  and 
we  find  Him  as  far  as  He  can  be  known  and  found 
by  our  darkened  intelligence.  We  seek  for  Him 
and  find  Him,  not  experimentally,  but  with  meta- 
physical reason  and  those  principles  of  eternal 
truth  which  allow  us  to  grasp  the  cause  from  the 

M 


162  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

effect,  the  substance  from  the  phenomenon,  under 
the  veil  of  creation  to  discover  the  infinite  God. 

Doubtless,  left  to  ourselves,  we  could  not  pene- 
trate by  our  own  strength  the  Universal  Cause, 
nor  see  with  our  eyes  the  Absolute  Principle;  but 
the  little  that  our  weak  reason  can  discover  already 
responds  to  the  deep  aspirations  of  our  soul. 

We  cannot  see  that  inapproachable  Being,  but 
we  know  that  He  is.  The  road  which  leads  to 
Him  is  open  to  us  ;  our  intelligence  leads  us  thither 
step  by  step  ;  as  it  advances  the  prospect  becomes 
wider,  and  light  is  added  to  light.  Even  if  we  were 
to  be  ever  struggling  towards  God  without  ever 
reaching  Him,  even  if  the  Catholic  faith  did  not 
assure  us  of  His  ineffable  possession,  we  ought  not 
to  complain  of  the  lot  to  which  our  finite  nature 
condemns  us.  The  torture  does  not  consist  in 
pursuing  a  path  full  of  light  ;  it  consists  in  feeling 
that  that  path  is  closed  against  us.  Now,  Atheism 
in  every  form  inflicts  this  torture  upon  us;  and 
it  endeavours  by  every  means  to  construct  in  our 
minds  an  impenetrable  barrier,  which  shall  shut 
out  the  heavens,  in  which  we  behold  afar  off  the 
inaccessible  form  of  God. 

Practical  men  will  perhaps  say,  "  Speculative 
truth  does  not  matter  to  us  ;  the  mere  object  of 
mental  contemplation,  it  has  no  direct  action  upon 
practical  life."  What,  then,  let  me  ask,  guides 
men  ?  What  should  order  their  conduct  and  direct 
all  their  actions  ?  Plight  and  moral  law.  Now, 
without  God,  what  becomes  of  righteousness  as 
an  absolute  law  ?     I  should  much  like  to  be  told. 


PRACTICAL   ATHEISM.  163 

Eight,  you  will  tell  me,  is  that  which  has  been 
accepted  by  the  miiltitude.  By  the  multitude  ? 
Then  the  majority  is  always  right  ?  Eight  means 
a  hundred  thousand  men  !  And  if  these  hundred 
thousand  men  crush  me — if  they  crucify  me? 
What,  it  was  the  Eomans,  the  executioners  of 
Christ,  who  were  doing  right?  In  the  name  of 
which  right  did  they  crucify  Him  ?  For  Pilate 
pretended  to  have  the  right  on  his  side,  and  the 
Jews  on  theirs.  Eight,  then,  is  something  quite 
relative  ;  it  is  that  which  those  who  deny  God,  and 
no  longer  see  in  that  moral  law  which  explains 
the  absolute  connection  of  things  a  reflex  of 
the  Infinite,  are  obliged  to  admit.  My  brethren, 
right  is  either  absolute  or  it  is  not.  It  is  neces- 
sary or  it  is  not.  It  is  neither  number  nor  force 
that  determines  it  ;  it  is  not  even  originated  by 
reason.  Eeason  does  not  create  it — she  proves  it  ; 
she  is  not  the  author,  but  the  witness.  No,  indeed  ! 
Force  in  this  matter  would  be  worse  even  than  the 
multitude.  Eight  is  not  originated — it  exists.  But 
where  ?  What  intelligence  would  be  found  its 
immutable  domain  when  you  have  suppressed 
God? 

Nothing  remains  but  humanity,  which  is  might 
and  majority  ?     Once  more,  this  cannot  be. 

When  conscience — that  is,  right — is  on  your  side, 
you  stand  firm  in  your  superiority,  armed  with 
moral  force,  and  raised  on  the  pedestal  of  justice  ; 
and  in  the  name  of  God,  who  consecrates  right, 
you  say,  "  Stand  back  !"  to  the  mob  ;  and  to  brute 
force  you  cry,  "  There  is  the  barrier  ;  there  is  my 


164  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

right.     You   take   it   from   me  ;    I  protest.     And 
before  God  I  remain  the  sole  true  master." 

Though  centuries  should  pass,  though  millions 
of  worlds  should  have  made  their  evolutions,  right 
remains  ever  the  same  ;  and  its  truth,  whatever 
savants  say,  will  stand  for  ages,  like  the  granite 
rocks,  when  the  power  of  the  multitude  has  wasted 
itself  and  vanished  away  like  the  angry  foam  of 
the  sea.  The  right  has  been  ever  the  same,  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world  till  now  ;  always  Christ's 
law  of  love,  uprightness,  and  self-sacrifice  ;  and 
though  at  first  seen  dimly,  its  outlines  have  never 
changed,  only  Christianity  revealed  its  utmost  per- 
fection of  detail. 

That  which  I  have  said  concerning  right  we 
can  also  say  of  love.  The  soul  is  formed  to  lean 
towards  those  sympathetic  beings  whom  Providence 
has  chosen  and  reserved  for  it  :  towards  the  father 
and  mother  ;  towards  that  first  group  called  the 
family  ;  towards  that  chosen  group  called  friends  ; 
towards  that  more  extended  group  called  a  nation, 
a  race  ;  towards  that  yet  vaster  group  called 
humanity.  We  are  not  alone  ;  the  solitary  man 
is  an  incomprehensible  and  repulsive  being.  Our 
natural  want  is  to  love  outside  ourselves. 

Well  !  believe  me,  if  you  suppress  God  by 
Practical  Atheism,  you  wound  love  mortally  ;  you 
stifle  it  by  limiting  its  duration  and  its  intensity, 
and  you  no  longer  leave  it  a  guarantee  against 
death.  Without  God  no  soul  is  immortal.  Now, 
affection  is  like  right  ;   it  is  eternal  and  without 


PEACTICAL   ATHEISM.  165 

limit,  or  it  is  not.  If  you  end,  if  you  are  but  the 
being  of  a  day,  what  is  the  good  of  loving  ?  Happy 
to-day,  to-morrow  you  weep  in  anguish  over  a 
black,  hopeless  grave,  which  swallows  up  your  all, 
and  leaves  you  nothing — the  tomb  without  resur- 
rection !  If  I  were  to  advise  this  ephemeral  being, 
I  should  say  to  him,  "  Go  into  the  desert,  and  alone, 
before  the  immensity  which  surrounds  you,  gaze 
upon  the  dust  from  which  you  were  made,  that 
which  has  had  the  insolence  to  place  you  here; 
look,  and  curse  everything,  but  love  nothing." 

Is  this  a  Satanic  counsel  ?  No,  indeed,  it  is  that 
of  a  friend.  Things  must,  of  course,  be  judged  by 
their  utility.  Why  deceive  yourself  ?  it  is  neither 
good  nor  wise.  Would  you  think  a  man  sensible 
who  went  voluntarily  to  the  gaUeys,  to  endure  the 
suffering  of  a  convict  ?  All  those  who  do  not 
believe  in  God  and  an  immortal  soul,  and  yet  allow 
themselves  to  love  intensely,  voluntarily  chain 
themselves  to  a  weight,  and  consent  to  drag  it 
about  with  them.  If  you  no  longer  believe  in 
God  or  in  the  soul,  if  you  are  an  Atheist,  I  see 
nothing  better  for  you  than  to  harden  your  heart 
till  it  is  a  stone,  if  you  can  ;  it  may  be  brutal,  but 
it  is  at  least  intelligent  and  dignified  :  but  wilfully 
to  love  under  such  conditions  is  insane. 

How,  after  that,  can  we  speak  of  happiness  ? 
What  !  when  you  can  never  attain  the  truth  which 
is  your  natural  longing,  or  obtain  that  right  which 
is  the  rule  and  the  honour  of  your  conduct,  or 
enjoy  that  love  which  is  the  perfume  of  life,  you 


166  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

speak  of  happiness  ?  What  a  mockery  in  the  very 
word  !  I  understand  bliss  for  those  living  in  the 
light,  knowing  no  limit  to  their  visions  of  divine 
goodness,  seeing  right  respected  around  them,  and 
able  to  labour  at  making  it  respected,  crowned  by 
justice,  and  able  to  exclaim,  "My  life  expands  in 
the  ecstasy  of  a  deep  love  blessed  and  sanctified 
by  God  ;  it  will  know  no  decline  ;  it  will  be  more 
blessed  than  the  suns  by  which  it  is  measured  ;  for 
they  pass  away,  but  my  love  is  immortal."  But 
with  Practical  Atheism  we  bid  adieu  to  these  sacred 
things,  and  thus,  also,  to  our  happiness  ;  for  what 
is  our  happiness  made  up  of,  if  not  of  truth,  of 
justice,  and  of  love  ? 

Go,  then,  you  who  believe  no  more  in  happiness 
and  are  unable  any  longer  to  believe  in  it  !  Pursue 
your  road  without  any  end  but  despair  and  its 
dark  gulf.  Go  !  I  will  not  follow  you.  Will  you, 
my  brethren  ?  Will  you  descend  into  this  hell  ? 
There  was  written  above  the  gates  of  that  hell 
seen  by  the  poet  in  his  sublime  and  fantastic 
vision — 

"  All  Hope  abandon,  ye  "who  enter  here  !" 

My  brethren,  Dante's  hell  might  be  a  paradise 
compared  with  the  darkness  into  which  Practical 
Atheism  plunges  the  human  soul.  On  the  threshold 
of  this  black  gulf  do  you  know  what  is  written  ? 
"  All  truth,  all  right,  all  love,  abandon,  ye  who 
enter  here  !  "  If  it  was  merely  leaving  your  hajDpi- 
ness,  who  would  not  enter  heroically  into  the  gulf 
and  leave  it  behind  them  like  a  cast-off  rag  ?    But 


PRACTICAL   ATHEISM.  167 

no  :  it  is  truth  that  we  must  abandon  ;  it  is  right 
that  must  be  trodden  underfoot  ;  it  is  love  that 
must  be  outraged  and  martyred  !  You  are  not 
capable  of  this  !  If  I  would  drag  you  thither,  your 
conscience  would  rise  up  like  an  armed  man,  and 
cry,  "Away  from  me  !  "  My  brethren,  it  is  not  to 
me  that  you  must  say  this  ;  it  is  to  those  systems 
I  have  denounced.  Cry  it  aloud,  then,  and  with 
all  the  eloquence  of  your  soul  ! 

We  are  not  only  individuals,  we  are  members 
of  a  nation  and  a  race.  For  that  reason  Atheism 
has  first  to  be  considered  with  regard  to  individual 
existence,  and  afterwards  with  regard  to  social  life. 
Now,  the  whole  problem  of  social  life  may  be 
summed  up  thus  :  it  is  necessary  that  those  who 
govern  should  not  oppress,  otherwise  we  are  no 
longer  subjects,  but  slaves  ;  it  is  necessary  that 
those  who  are  governed  should  be  united,  should 
help  each  other,  and  should  not  revolt  against 
those  who  govern,  otherwise  we  are  no  longer  free 
citizens,  but  rebels. 

These  are  the  Scylla  and  Charybdis  of  all  nations  : 
oppression  from  those  who  govern,  rebellion  amongst 
those  who  are  governed — to  express  thé  thing  in 
two  words,  antagonism  of  the  social  elements. 
Where  this  antagonism  is,  that  nation's  decay  is 
certain,  its  dissolution  imminent.  You  may  call 
it  a  nation,  it  is  one  only  in  name.  It  is  said  to 
be  alive,  it  is  dead  ;  it  is  a  corpse,  whose  wrappings 
and  perfumes  disguise  neither  its  stench  nor  its 
decomposition. 


168  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

Well,  when  Atheism  is  established  in  a  nation, 
that  nation — I  do  not  know  in  how  long  a  time  ; 
but  what  matter  the  time  if  the  event  is  fatal  ? — to 
a  certainty  comes  to  oppression  on  the  part  of 
those  who  govern,  and  rebellion  in  those  who  are 
governed.  Yes,  oppression  from  above,  rebellion 
from  below  ;  this  is  the  climax.     I  will  prove  it. 

What  are  the  guarantees  of  the  governed  against 
the  governing  ?  These  latter  are  the  masters  ; 
they  have  intelligence,  the  administration,  the 
police,  the  army,  the  revenues  ;  they  hold  in  their 
hands  all  the  public  force.  Against  them,  I  repeat, 
what  is  our  protection  ?  Can  you  tell  me  ? 
Besides,  there  are  things  that  are  beyond  the  power 
of  protection  ;  our  goods,  our  children,  our  family, 
our  lives,  how  do  I  know  ?  The  all-powerful  State 
may  say,  "  I  want  your  fortune  ;  I  have  millions  to 
pay.  I  want  your  children  ;  war  is  declared.  I 
want  your  life;  it  is  necessary  for  my  security." 
What  could  you  answer  to  these  despotic  exactions 
of  an  unbridled  Government  ? 

In  all  history  there  is  but  one  power  which  has 
victoriously  held  its  own  against  political  govern- 
ment and  the  abuse  of  power  by  brute  force.  You 
do  not  perhaps  know  this  power  ?  Yes,  you  know 
it  well  ;  it  is  conscience.  This  it  is  which  you 
must  at  all  cost  keep  inviolate,  defend  from 
tyranny,  and  surround  with  an  absolute  respect. 
If  all  is  oppressed,  violated,  enslaved,  let  conscience 
remain  safe,  free,  and  untainted.  Until  Christ  it 
was  in  the  hands  of  Csesars  and  emperors,  and  the 
State  which  passed  religious  as   well  as  pohtical 


PRACTICAL    ATHEISM.  169 

laws,  as  it  dictated  them  to  all  else,  so  it  imposed 
them  upon  the  conscience.  It  said,  "  I  want  not 
only  your  fortune — your  fortune  is  mine  ;  not  only 
your  slave — your  slave  is  mine  ;  not  only  your  life — 
your  life  is  mine  !  Everything  belongs  to  me,  even 
your  conscience." 

Now,  brethren,  there  arose  in  the  midst  of 
centuries  a  Man  whom  France  to-day  blasphemes, 
whom  writers  dare  to  insult  in  the  name  of  a 
Science  that  they  make  to  lie,  a  Man  whose  divine 
aureole  they  take  away,  a  Man — should  I  say 
"  man  "  in  speaking  of  Him  that  is  God  ? — this 
Man  has  taken  the  conscience,  and  has  said  to  it, 
"  Come  unto  Me,  I  will  be  your  freedom.  I  am  no 
master,  but  the  God  that  created  you."  He  has 
cried  to  the  Csesars  of  every  name,  age,  and 
country,  "Away  with  you,  oppressors!  I  leave 
you  the  kingdoms  of  this  world.  Fortune  tempts 
you  ;  take  it  !  You  want  young  men  for  your 
wars  ;  take  them  !  You  want  human  hecatombs  ; 
let  blood  flow  round  your  homicidal  thrones  !  One 
day  you  will  see  these  floods  staunched,  but  hence- 
forth there  is  something  which  belongs  to  Me, 
which  is  of  the  least  of  these  little  ones,  something 
you  shall  not  touch!"  "What?"  they  ask  in 
surprise.  They  have  asked  it.  Well,  Christ  has 
answered,  "  That  something  is  conscience  !  "  They 
have  accused  the  successors  of  Christ,  the  great 
Liberator,  of  having  used  oppression  ;  it  is  not  for 
me  to  excuse  nor  to  vindicate  them.  Did  not  Christ 
say,  "Go,  take  under  your  religious  sway,  under 
your  invisible  sceptre,  the  conscience  of  man,  not 


170  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

to  subjugate  it,  but  to  snatch  it  from  the  power  of 
the  sword,  from  the  tyranny  of  the  mighty  in  this 
world.  You  are  simple,  ignorant,  unarmed  ;  go, 
in  spite  of  all  :  whatever  you  do  in  this  world  to 
free  the  soul  and  the  conscience  will  be  approved 
in  heaven."  By  virtue  of  this  word,  humanity, 
which  before  knew  only  masters,  has  known 
liberators.  But  remember,  brethren,  that  the 
great  fellow-workers  with  Christ  in  liberating  the 
conscience  believed  in  God,  and  that  they  adored 
Him  Incarnate. 

Well,  the  day  on  which  you  extirpate  God  from 
your  race  and  country,  you  will  renew  the  con- 
fusion of  temporal  and  spiritual  power,  the  sub- 
jection of  the  priesthood  to  the  empire,  of  the 
cross  to  the  sword  ;  and  the  God  you  have  driven 
from  heaven  you  will  find  on  a  throne  avenging 
and  implacable,  changed  to  a  Moloch,  weighing 
down  yom*  conscience  even  under  the  very  yoke 
you  thought  you  had  thrown  off.  You  may  have 
suppressed  the  Pope  perhaps  ;  but  with  the  Pope 
you  will  have  suppressed  also  liberty  of  conscience. 

It  is  not  worth  while  to  call  yourselves  free 
beings,  and  boast  of  your  Science  and  your  new 
world,  since  by  banishing  God  you  have  chained 
up  the  highest  faculties  of  your  intelligence,  and 
stamped  out  the  most  sacred  feelings  of  humanity. 

If  you  allow  Atheism  to  invade  the  people,  you 
will  see  develop,  with  oppression  in  high  places, 
revolution  in  the  low;  you  will  see  arise,  sj)read, 
increase  beyond  measure  that  which  is  called  so 


PKACTICAL  ATHEISM.  171 

aptly  in  the  language  of  to-day,  "  The  popular 
wave."  It  will  rise  like  a  resistless  sea.  Perhaps 
it  will  come  slowly  ;  you  take  it  for  a  calm,  ordinary 
tide,  and  think  you  can  predict  exactly  how  high  it 
will  rise,  and  when  its  swollen  waves  will  subside. 
The  sea  creeps  up  formidable,  all-powerful  ;  an 
invisible  force  urges  it  to  rise.  What  is  this  force  ? 
Envy,  jealousy,  hatred,  all  the  angry  passions 
which  the  sight  of  social  inequality  arouses  in 
souls  hungry  for  enjoyment  ;  these  differences  of 
wealth  and  position  are  so  painful,  so  bitter  to  those 
who  have  lost  faith  in  Providence,  and  with  it  the 
divine  secret  of  suffering  and  resignation.  Can 
3^ou,  then,  show  me  the  way  to  master  these 
passions,  which  lie  smouldering  within  a  nation 
like  the  fire  within  a  volcano  ?  You  count,  I  know, 
upon  brute  force.  You  think  to  say  to  this  people, 
"  If  you  revolt,  I  have  soldiers  and  guns  ;  I  have 
prisons  and  police."  Under  these  threats  a  people 
may  be  calmed,  but  not  for  long.  There  is  some- 
thing stronger  than  servile  fear,  stronger  than  the 
tyrant — the  unchained  human  soul.  There  comes 
a  time — we  have  seen  it,  and  the  former  generation 
has  seen  it — a  moment  of  terrible  exasperation, 
which  nothing  can  restrain,  which  breaks  down 
the  barriers  that  you  thought  so  strong,  and  the 
wave  rises  irresistibly. 

Ah  !  if  to  all  the  discontented,  to  all  those 
weary  of  life,  to  all  who  suffer,  who  are  hungry  and 
athirst,  you  would  but  teach  charity  ;  if  you  sent 
them  apostles  to  say  to  them,  as  Saint  Paul  did  to 
the  slaves,  "You  are  sons  of  the  same  Father  who 


172  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

is  in  [heaven  !  "  if,  leading  their  souls  to  God,  you 
would  teach  them  that  above  every  creature 
there  is  the  Infinite,  and  that  beyond  this  world 
there  is  eternity — you  would  save  them  and  you 
would  save  yourselves  ;  there  would  henceforth  be 
a  hope  for  these  souls  that  wander  hopelessly  upon 
the  earth,  and  a  cure  for  those  passions  which 
become  excited  by  hate  into  a  frenzy.  Far  from 
doing  this,  we  are  striving  to  eradicate  God  from 
the  souls  of  the  people.  We  close  our  eyes  to  the 
consequences  of  such  a  work,  and  we  tranquilize 
our  minds  by  saying,  "  Men  are  good,  why  should 
we  doubt  them  ?  Men  are  weak,  we  know  how  to 
restrain  them."  Well,  my  brethren,  be  warned; 
know  that  under  many  and  changing  appearances 
the  soul  is  ever  the  same,  a  passionate  being  not 
to  be  exasperated  with  impunity,  whose  explosions 
may  prove  fatal.  The  ocean  does  not  change  either  : 
it  breaks  against  its  dykes  to-day  as  it  did  yesterday  ; 
it  rises  and  falls  ;  it  has  the  same  fury  and  the 
same  tempests. 

The  people  are  like  the  grey  sea  that  the  active 
and  intrepid  people  of  Holland  have  banked  out 
with  dykes  constructed  by  their  own  hands.  One 
day  an  insect,  brought  over  in  the  planks  of  a  ship 
from  some  distant  continent,  got  into  the  wood  of 
these  dykes.  The  Dutch  work  ;  they  are  proud  of 
the  land  they  have  conquered  from  the  ocean  ;  it  is 
green  and  prosperous  ;  all  the  wealth  of  nations 
comes  into  their  ships,  and  adds  to  the  prosperity 
of  this  enterprising  and  industrious  little  kingdom. 
All  at  once  there  was   a  hole  in  the  dyke  ;  the 


PKACTICAL   ATHEISM.  173 

invisible  insect  had  eaten  through  the  barrier  raised 
up  against  the  sea,  to  the  very  last  grain.  The 
people  in  distress  rushed  from  their  houses  and 
their  shops  ;  there  was  but  one  cry  raised — "  To 
the  dykes  !  " 

Brethren,  the  sea  of  Holland  is  popular  passion, 
passion  amongst  the  high  and  amongst  the  low,  a 
veritable  ocean  which  may  to-morrow  break  into 
this  country  and  submerge  it.  The  insect  which 
gnaws  the  dyke  silently  and  fatally,  that  insect  is 
the  teaching  of  a  "  Science  without  God  !  "  Brethren, 
beware  !  Fathers  and  mothers,  sons  and  young 
girls,  all  of  you,  be  up  and  doing.  "To  the  dykes  ! " 
To-morrow,  perhaps,  it  may  be  too  late. 


SIXTH  DISCOUESE. 

the  existence  of  god. 

Beethken, 

Does  God  exist  ?  Positivism  replies,  "  This 
is  a  useless  and  unintelligible  question  ;  we  have 
suppressed  Him."  Materialism  replies,  "  Matter 
and  its  forces  alone  exist,  and  matter  is  God." 
Pantheism  replies,  "  The  great  All  alone  exists,  and 
the  great  All  is  God."  Scepticism  replies,  "  I  don't 
know." 

And  we,  my  brethren,  what  shall  we  say  ? 

Amongst  those  who  proclaim  the  existence  of 
God,  some  regard  it  as  a  first  truth  which  needs 
no  demonstration.  At  the  first  glance  it  is  grasped 
by  their  intelligence.  God  is  ;  for  those  under- 
standing the  value  of  terms,  that  is  equivalent  to 
this  :  Being  is.  Thus  there  is  no  proposition  of 
more  sure  and  irresistible  evidence  possible. 

Others  say,  "  Do  not  attempt  to  prove  the  exist- 
ence of  God  ;  it  is  above  the  power  of  any  human 
intelligence.  Faith  may  proclaim  God,  reason  can 
only  suspect  His  existence.  Faith  affirms,  reason 
doubts."  Has  not  Pascal  written,  in  one  of  his 
impetuous  moments,  "We  are  incapable  of  knowing 
what  God  is,  or  if  He  exists."     And  traditionalists 


THE    EXISTENCE    OF    GOD,  175 

who  have  wished  to  build  up  revelation  on  the 
ruins  of  human  intelligence,  the  necessary  basis  of 
all  faith,  have  repeated  Pascal's  words  and  stupidly 
professed  scepticism. 

Thus  the  existence  of  God  is  to  some  a  self- 
evident  truth  ;  to  others  a  truth  beyond  human 
intelligence.  In  both  cases  its  demonstration  is 
useless  ;  it  is  either  supererogatory  or  powerless. 

We  do  not  accept  these  extreme  doctrines. 

If  the  existence  of  God  is  a  self-evident  truth, 
why  do  so  many  men  dare  to  doubt  it?  They 
deny  it,  I  know,  only  with  their  lips  and  in  their 
heart,  but  is  it  natural  for  heart  and  lips  to  deny 
first  truths  ?  Those  who  do  so  it  is  impossible  to 
argue  with  ;  it  is  only  possible  to  leave  them  to 
their  foil}' — all  evidence  and  demonstration  is  wasted 
on  such  persons.  But  atheism  is  not  of  this  kind  ; 
the  very  highest  intellects  have  used  their  best 
powers  in  endeavouring  to  rise  to  this  truth,  which 
is  proclaimed  by  all  around  us  to  those  who  are 
capable  of  hearing  its  voice. 

To  those  who  believe  that  the  existence  of  God 
cannot  be  established  by  reason,  permit  me  to  reply 
with  some  energy.  How  !  born  of  God,  created  for 
him,  has  man  neither  in  his  heart,  his  intelligence, 
nor  his  soul,  the  means  of  finding  his  Father  and 
calling  upon  Him  ?  How  !  He  that  has  created  us 
intelligent  and  given  us  hearts  to  love  Him,  shall 
He  have  refused  us  the  power  of  knowing  Him? 
This  is  repugnant  to  common  sense. 

For  our  parts,  brethren,  we  do  not  believe  in 
God  ;  we  prove  Him. 


176  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

The  existence  of  God  is  a  demonstrable  truth, 
and  it  must  be  demonstrated,  as  the  denial  of  it  is 
everywhere  insolently  proclaimed,  and  is  asserted 
under  forms  even  more  lying  than  audacious. 

My  brothers,  there  are  three  books  in  which  to- 
day every  one  reads  :  the  book  of  Nature,  the  book 
of  the  soul,  and  the  book  of  history.  Nature  bears 
"  engraved  in  letters  of  splendour  the  name  of  God  ; 
it  furnishes  that  argument  which  we  may  call 
experimental.  The  soul  bears  this  name  in  letters 
of  fire,  and  furnishes  that  argument  which  we  call 
psychological.  History  writes  it  in  letters  of  bril- 
liancy and  majesty  ;  it  gives  us  that  argument 
which  we  call  historical.  Now,  if  nature  pro- 
claims with  its  grand  voice,  and  the  soul  cries  out 
in  unison,  that  there  is  a  God,  and  if  history  joins 
nature  and  the  soul  in  this  solemn  attestation, 
who  shall  dare  to  mutiny  against  this  sacred  and 
threefold  testimony  ? 

Yes,  God  exists,  and  Nature  demonstrates  Him. 
Whosoever  interrogates  her  with  common  sense, 
with  poetry,  with  the  most  advanced  Science,  will 
find  her  proclaim  to  every  unprejudiced  mind  and 
sincere  heart  that  God  exists,  and  that  He  is  the 
principle,  the  law,  and  the  end.  Nature  is  that 
exterior  life  which  man  perceives  around  him, 
which  he  observes  and  tests  by  his  experience. 
Now,  brethren,  when  Science  wishes  to  show  us 
Nature,  what  does  she  do  ?  She  studies  the  living 
things  around  us  ;  traces  out  their  birth,  their  de- 
velopment, and  their  death  ;  she  compares  them, 
defines  the  characteristics  which  assimilate  or  dis- 


THE    EXISTENCE    OF    GOD.  177 

tinguish  them,  and  by  the  extent  of  her  investiga- 
tions is  enabled  to  grasp  and  to  explain  the  very 
essence  of  things,  as  well  as  their  ensemble. 

This  ensemble  in  its  totality  cannot  be  perceived 
by  human  eyes.  We  see  a  speck  in  the  universe, 
but  not  the  entire  universe.  Assisted  by  wonderful 
instruments,  we  see  very  far  into  space  ;  but  the 
farther  we  see,  the  more  the  horizon  opens,  the 
wider  the  perspective  appears  ;  the  more  worlds  we 
discover  the  more  there  are  to  be  discovered — the 
unknown  multiplies  itself  at  each  step  of  Science. 
The  progress  of  Science  is  mathematical,  the 
progress  of  the  unknown  is  geometrical.  And  so, 
in  advancing  into  the  territory  of  the  unknown. 
Science  has  her  hours  of  lassitude,  and  we  hear 
her,  the  light,  the  indefatigable  seeker,  confess 
hopelessly  her  obscurity  and  her  impotence. 

But  what  does  she  prove  in  that  domain  open 
to  her  search  ?  What  does  she  discover  in  beings 
with  life  and  without,  in  those  that  can  be  put 
under  a  microscope  and  those  that  can  only  be 
reached  by  the  most  powerful  telescope  ?  What  is 
the  great  phenomenon  of  organic  and  inorganic 
life,  of  the  infinite  detail  as  of  the  incommensur- 
able whole  ?  In  a  word,  what  is  this  Nature  ? 
Science  interrogates  it  every  day  ;  what  name  has 
she  discovered  for  it  ? 

Well,  its  chiefest  characteristic,  its  very  essence, 
the  name  found  for  it  by  that  Science  which  is  ever 
studying  and  analyzing  it,  is  motion  :  that  which 
changes  progresses  and  is  transformed.  Perpetual 
motion,  activity  always  and  everywhere,  quiescence 


178  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

never  and  in  no  place.  Quiescence  is  an  illusion. 
Where  we  see  only  inertia,  invisible  forces  work  and 
move  ;  they  balance  but  do  not  destroy  each  other. 
Piepose  is  movement  in  equilibrium. 

Again,  in  its  ensemble,  as  in  its  detail,  to  the  eye 
of  advanced  Science  Nature  is  not  only  a  moving 
but  a  progressive  force.  Nature  is  not  ;  she  grows. 
It  is  she  that  should  be  called  the  perpetual  "  to 
be,"  not  God.  We  only  see  her  partially:  her 
immensity  escapes  us  ;  we  perceive  only  our  globe, 
its  satellites,  and  our  solar  system.  We  can  only 
give  a  glance  at  the  nebulae  in  the  midst  of  which 
we  are  lost  ;  we  catch  sight  of,  but  cannot  fathom, 
that  wonderful  Milky  Way  in  which  we  float  like 
a  leaf  lost  in  the  ocean.  But  in  that  particle  of 
Nature  which  has  been  explored  by  Science,  what 
is  the  prominent  feature  ?  An  orderly,  incessant, 
progressive  activity,  destroying  at  times,  but  to 
build  up  anew.  Whence  goes  this  progress  ?  To 
what  goal  is  it  pushing  ?  Is  it  difficult  to  discover  ? 
Matter  progresses  towards  life  ;  its  tendency  is 
to  condense  itself  for  the  formation  of  habitable 
globes.  Science  beholds  this  miracle.  Although 
not  born  when  it  was  accomplished,  she  is  able  to 
evoke  it  ;  she  goes  back  into  the  immensity  of 
ages  ;  she  says  to  all  this  past,  to  all  these  dead, 
"Shake  off  the  dust  of  your  tombs;  it  is  I  that 


summon  you 


Centuries  have  come  forth  from  the  darkness  ; 
the  dead  have  declared  their  names  ;  fossils  have 
reappeared  ;  whole  creations  have  answered,  "  Be- 
hold us  !  "  and  recounted  their  past  history  and 


THE    EXISTENCE    OF    GOD.  179 

the  miracle  of  tlieir  aj)pearance  in  arf  inert  world, 
incapable  of  producing  them,  yet  seeming  to  wait 
for  their  arrival. 

See  you  the  work  of  Science  ?  She  wishes  to 
examine  and  unravel  this  Nature.  See  how  she 
makes  it  obey  her.  Science  follows  the  progress 
of  the  cosmos  step  by  step.  She  sees  matter  con- 
dense itself  into  immense  bodies  to  serve  as  an 
abode  for  Hfe.  At  first  all  is  rough,  silent,  chaotic. 
Then  order  begins  ;  geometry  traces  its  lines,  its 
circumferences,  its  ellipses.  Every  body  and  every 
mass  follows  the  pre-ordained  line,  circumference, 
and  ellipse;  and  all  this  is  performed  by  those 
minute  invisible  atoms  which  we  cannot  grasp,  but 
can  only  di^dne,  and  which,  like  the  great  celestial 
bodies,  have  their  geometry  and  follow  their  pre- 
arranged route.  The  work  is  of  absolute  regularity  ; 
all  combines  to  raise  a  pedestal  for  something 
greater  than  itself,  an  abode  for  some  one  more 
worthy. 

When  the  abode  is  prepared  the  guest  arrives  ; 
when  the  pedestal  is  raised  the  statue  is  placed 
upon  it.  The  pedestal  is  the  inorganic,  the  statue 
the  organic  world;  the  abode  is  the  geometric 
world,  built  like  a  temple  whose  every  angle  is 
measured  with  the  wisest  harmony.  Nature  makes 
a  step  ;  it  rises  to  the  living  being  :  this  is  the  pre- 
destined guest. 

It  is  born  a  mere  nothing,  a  rudiment,  without 
determinate  form,  which  develops  so  far  as  to 
replenish  in  its  fecundity  the  temple  it  inhabits. 
In  the  bosom  of  the  protoplasm  is  formed  a  cellule, 


180  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

a  species  of  utricle,  in  which  is  imprisoned  a  strange 
force  which  creates  and  destroys  organic  matter, 
which  burns  it,  contracts  and  moves,  living  only 
on  condition  of  dying,  and,  by  multiijlying  itself, 
ends  by  absorbing  all  inert  matter.  This  humble 
life  in  its  apparent  infirmity  is  master  ;  the  earth 
on  which  it  is  cast  belongs  to  it — inert  matter  yields 
obedience  to  living  matter.  Atoms  grow  and 
combine  in  changeable  proportions  at  the  will  of 
vital  force.  Life  grows.  It  rises,  becomes  com- 
plex, and  springs  forth  in  that  vegetable  life  whose 
fantastic  marvels  it  is  not  for  me  to  analyze,  nor 
to  describe  the  innumerable  florse  that  have  suc- 
ceeded each  other  on  this  planet  or  on  other 
worlds. 

Animal  life  appears.  Nothing  tires  nature  at 
work.  Ever  higher  !  it  seems  to  say.  The  forms 
of  the  fauna  develop  little  by  little,  the  rudimentary 
types  are  refined  and  completed.  But  what  matters 
this  secondary  work  of  elegance  and  refinement  ? 
The  characteristic  phenomenon  of  this  new  phase 
is  the  nervous  system,  that  delicate  and  mysterious 
organization  which  is  to  serve  as  prelude,  and  also 
as  foundation,  to  the  being  that  feels,  knows,  and 
moves.  Plants  cannot  move  nor  feel  ;  animals  do 
both,  and  the  nervous  sj^stem  is  their  special 
attribute.  And  all  the  artifice  of  Nature,  in  the 
progressive  elaboration  to  which  it  subjects  matter, 
seems  to  tend  to  the  production  of  this  marvellous 
power,  the  last  effort  of  organic  life,  the  highest 
form  of  matter. 

And  whither  go  these  multitudes  of  animals  of 


THE    EXISTENCE    OF    GOD.  181 

every  form  ranked  in  these  grades  into  which 
Science  endeavours  to  classify  them  ?  Have  they 
no  other  destiny  but  to  fill  the  world  With  their 
cries  and  their  strifes  ?  No  !  ever  higher.  The 
animal  is  but  the  sketch  of  a  nobler  and  more 
perfect  organization  and  life.  After  the  inferior 
beings  who  know,  feel,  and  move,  behold  the 
thinking  being,  free  and  able  to  command  himself 
and  to  command  all  the  rest.  After  the  animal 
comes — man. 

Not  in  vain  was  the  earth  formed,  the  clay 
fashioned,  and  the  Divine  breath  breathed  over  all 
to  animate  and  stir  it  ;  matter  was  to  yield  up 
all  it  contained,  and  after  having  served  for  sensa- 
tion and  instinct,  it  was  still  to  be  welded  into  the 
free  and  thinking  being,  and  become  the  organic 
condition  and  support  of  intelligence  and  liberty. 
I  have  shown  you,  brethren,  a  page  from  the  book 
of  Nature.  I  have  only  interpreted  into  the 
language  of  modern  Science  what  Moses  wrote  in 
the  first  chapter  of  the  Bible. 

To  sum  up,  Nature  is  in  motion.  A  progressive 
thing,  she  starts  from  the  atom,  and,  going  through 
the  intermediate  degrees  to  which  I  have  directed 
your  attention,  she  attains  to  thought.  The  atom 
is  almost  nothing;  thought  almost  everything. 
Who  takes  into  account  an  atom  ?  Thought  takes 
everything  into  account.  The  atom  does  not  know 
itself  ;  it  does  not  know  what  surrounds  it  ;  it  is 
solitary.  Thought  cannot  ignore  itself,  nor  be  un- 
conscious of  what  surrounds  it.  Thought  is  the 
reflector  in  which  every  being  can  leave  its  image  ; 
it  is  the  wide  glance  over  the  universe  of  things. 


182  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

Such,  brethren,  is  the  conclusion  of  experimental 
Science.  She  can  only  tell  you  this  :  In  the  begin- 
ning was  the  atom  ;  in  the  end,  thought  ;  between, 
organization  in  every  degree.  Nothing  more, 
nothing  less.  She  will  describe  it  some  day, 
doubtless,  with  greater  amplitude  and  perfection, 
but  she  will  always  stop  where  experience  ends. 
This  is  so  true,  that  those  men  who  profess  to 
recognize  nothing  but  experimental  Science  advance 
as  a  principle  that  there  is  nothing  more  to  look 
for.  They  are  wrong.  When  experience  ends, 
reason  begins.  The  j)roof?  Your  own  thoughts, 
whilst  I  am  speaking  to  you.  You  are  waiting; 
you  seem  to  say  to  me,  "  "When  I  know  all  that 
scientific  observation  can  attain,  shall  I  be  any 
more  advanced  ?  The  curiosity  of  my  mind  is  but 
half  satisfied.  Phenomena  succeed,  but  do  not 
explain  each  other.  Facts  of  history  are  the 
materials  of  Science  ;  they  are  not  the  light."  What 
seek  you  then  ?  The  cause  and  beginning  of  things. 
Without  knowing  it,  almost  in  spite  of  yourself,  you 
are  in  search  of  God. 

Well,  then,  it  is  before  the  grand  spectacle  of 
the  progress  of  the  universe,  that,  armed  by  the 
principle  of  causality,  eager  to  find  the  cause,  our 
minds  rise  irresistibly  towards  God,  sole  and 
sovereign  cause  of  the  world  studied  by  Science. 
This  principle  is  merciless  :  there  must  be  in  the 
cause  all  that  I  see  in  the  phenomenon,  or  the 
cause  explains  nothing,  and  does  not  give  me 
the  reason  of  phenomena.  If  a  being  moves,  it 
must  have  a  mover  ;  it  cannot  move   alone.     The 


THE   EXISTENCE    OF    GOD.  183 

passivity  of  the  being  moved,  and  the  activity  of 
the  mover,  spring  from  the  same  origin.  Now, 
when  a  being  progresses  from  the  imperfect  to  the 
perfect,  from  an  inferior  to  a  superior  state,  I  must 
discover  the  cause  of  this  superiority.  It  has  it 
not  in  itself;  for  that  would  be  a  contradiction. 
In  the  same  way,  when  a  being  progresses  from  a 
lifeless  to  a  living  state,  I  ask  who  has  produced 
this  progress  ?  They  tell  me,  lifeless  matter. 
How  !  That  which  is  without  life  can  produce 
life  !  What  a  sophism  !  It  would  be  denying  the 
motive  and  first  principle  of  reasoning,  the  prin- 
ciple of  causality.  Therefore  there  was  in  the 
commencement  of  things  a  Being,  who  by  its  own 
virtue  contained  all  that  we  have  seen  unfolded 
through  successive  ages — a  Being  who  is  the  reason 
of  movement,  of  life,  of  sensation,  and  of  thought. 

I  resume  :  Nature  moves  ;  therefore  she  has  a 
first  mover.  Nature  progresses  ;  she  goes  from 
inert  matter  to  the  living  state  ;  therefore  a  living 
force  must  conduct  her  progress.  Nature  goes  from 
inferior  to  more  perfect  life  ;  therefore  a  living  and 
perfect  force  must  lead  her.  Nature,  by  man,  who 
is  highest  in  the  scale  of  life  on  this  planet,  rises  to 
thought  ;  therefore  a  living,  orderly,  perfect,  and 
intelligent  force  impels  her.  This  living,  orderly, 
perfect,  intelligent  force  is  God, 

The  catholic  doctrine,  my  brethren,  in  accord 
with  spiritual  philosophy  thus  resolved  the  problem 
of  the  evolution  of  things  :  "In  the  beginning  was 
the  Word  " — or  Thought — "  and  the  Word  was  with 
God,  and  the  Word  ivas  God,"     Thought  has  pro- 


184  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

duced  the  atom  ;  thought  has  i^roduced  life  ;  thought 
has  produced  that  httle  flame,  that  ray  that  we 
call  the  soul  of  man.  Thus  Thought,  or  the 
Word,  as  Samt  John  says,  was  God.  Therefore, 
brethren,  the  first  Cause  was  God. 

As  in  Nature  a  first  Cause  is  necessary,  so  also  is 
an  aim.  Progress  cannot  be  aimless  ;  it  cannot  lead 
to  nothing.  What,  then,  is  this  aim  ?  It  is  per- 
fection. All  that  is  progresses  from  the  imperfect  to 
the  perfect.  If  then  in  the  narrow  sphere  of  our 
experience  we  see  all  things  progressing  towards 
perfection,  and  serving  each  other  as  it  were  for  a 
basis  on  which  to  rise  towards  a  higher  grade,  we 
are  forced  to  recognize  as  set  before  and  in  advance 
of  all  things,  not  annihilation,  nor  a  vacuum,  but 
the  final  Being — that  One  called  by  Aristotle  the 
Desirable,  because  every  creature  desires  Him,  and 
towards  Him  all  things  move. 

Thus,  as  we  recognize  in  the  beginning  the 
activity  which  has  produced  all  things,  we  also 
recognize,  at  the  end  and  beyond,  the  Good,  or  that 
Perfection  which  attracts  every  being  and  deter- 
mines its  movement.  From  one  point  of  view 
Nature  becomes  God.  She  seems  in  labour  during 
ages  without  end,  in  space  without  limit,  groaning 
to  bring  forth  her  infinite  inaccessible  perfection. 
God,  the  Beginning  and  End  of  things,  is  also  the 
centre,  or  the  Sovereign  Law  ;  for  everything  pro- 
gresses according  to  a  Law.  Study  Nature,  you 
will  see  her  ever  following  in  the  same  paths,  from 
which  she  never  strays.     Atoms  ever  follow  the 


THE    EXISTENCE    OF    GOD.  185 

same  direction,  molecules  are  composed  of  the 
same  atoms,  all  bodies  obey  an  invariable  impulse, 
living  creatures  retain  ever  the  same  form  ;  if  they 
depart  from  it,  as  in  certain  species,  a  power  brings 
them  back,  sometimes  roughly,  to  their  type  and 
starting-point.  The  forefather  reappears.  One 
directing  idea  pervades  all  things  and  fixes  for 
everything  that  lives  and  is,  its  place  and  its 
trajectory.  Nothing  ever  deviates  from  it;  one 
only  being  has  this  melancholy  privilege — man; 
but  even  when  straying  man  renders  homage  to 
the  supreme  Law  he  infringes. 

Thus  does  Nature,  at  least  in  its  essential 
features,  reveal  its  Author.  At  each  page  of  the 
book  God  appears  under  the  form  of  the  Cause  of 
movement,  the  End  to  which  it  is  attracted,  the 
Law  which  regulates  it.  The  First  Cause  explains 
to  us  the  starting-point  of  the  divers  grades  in 
Nature  ;  the  End  justifies  that  movement  of  im- 
patience, innate  in  every  being,  which  draws  it 
towards  perfection  ;  the  supreme  Law,  reuniting 
the  Beginning  and  the  End,  accounts  for  the 
stability  of  the  universe,  and  for  the  grandeur  of 
the  plan  according  to  which  all  things  are  unfolded 
in  time  and  space. 

Such,  brethren,  is  the  divine  testimony  of  the  first 
book.     Listen  now  to  the  evidence  of  the  soul. 

Natm-e  is  outside  us;  it  is  matter,  a  matter 
without  a  voice.  The  soul  is  the  being  which  speaks, 
and  as  the  doctors  of  the  Church  have  called  it, 
the  being  which  is  instructed  of  God  :  Oto^i^uKTov. 


186  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

It  is  impossible  for  any  one  who  has  looked, 
if  only  for  a  second,  into  that  abyss  which  we 
call  the  soul,  into  that  restless  immensity  called 
the  human  heart,  where  living  forces  are  in  a 
tumultuous  activity  of  which  the  cosmic  forces 
are  but  a  faint  image — it  is  impossible,  I  say,  for 
any  one  who  has  done  this,  however  slightly,  to 
refuse  to  acknowledge  the  Infinite. 

God  has  been  pleased  to  set  His  mark  in  the  soul 
of  man.  It  is  in  the  image  of  God  ;  the  rest  has 
but  a  faint  trace  of  Him.  It  is,  then,  in  the  soul 
that  we  must  look  to  discover  the  Infinite.  It  is 
written  in  Genesis,  "  And  they  heard  the  voice  of 
God  walking  in  the  garden  in  the  cool  of  the  day." 
The  Eden,  my  brethren,  is  yourselves  ;  the  trees 
amongst  which  God  walked,  which  gave  Him  a 
sacred  shelter,  are  all  that  lives  within  you.  And  if 
you  know  how  to  listen,  you  will  hear  the  footsteps 
of  God  therein,  more  clearly  than  in  the  earthly 
Eden. 

My  brethren,  what  is  the  human  soul  ? 

What  are  you  ?  What  am  I — I  who  am  speak- 
ing to  you  ?  What  is  that  force  which  is  above 
and  outside  Nature,  which  studies  and  divines  it, 
which  commands  it  with  authority  and  transforms 
it  at  will  ">  We  are  all  conscious  of  it;  the  soul  is 
a  progressive,  moving,  struggling  force.  But  whither 
does  it  go  ?  towards  what  is  it  in  progress  ?  All 
advances,  and  is  in  evolution  in  Nature.  If  the 
soul  is  but  a  force  in  evolution,  then  it  becomes 
confounded  with  Nature.  Not  so  ;  the  soul  has  a 
character  which  distinguishes  it  from  everything 


THE    EXISTENCE    OF    GOD.  187 

outside  it.  Things  move  and  stop.  Atoms  move 
and  stop.  Living  cellules  move  and  stop.  All 
they  can  do  is  to  raise  themselves  to  become  an 
agent  of  thought,  a  particle  of  that  nervous 
substance  which  forms  the  pinnacle  of  the  pyramid 
of  matter. 

When,  after  a  thousand  combinations  and  meta- 
morphoses, the  atom  has  reached  this  point,  what 
becomes  of  it  ?  Ask  death.  It  is  again  seized 
upon  by  inferior  forces,  it  re-descends  and  falls 
back,  to  recommence  its  voyage  ten,  a  hmidred 
times,  but  without  ever  overstepping  the  fatal 
limit.  Matter  does  not  produce  matter  ;  it  travels 
on  in  a  closed  circle.  But  the  soul  ?  Here  is  seen 
its  sovereignty.  The  soul  rises  always,  is  ever  in 
progress,  but  never  re-descends  unless  by  the  free 
movement  of  its  will.  The  soul  is  in  perpetual 
and  unlimited  progression,  carried  onwards  by  a 
desire  which  nothing  can  satisfy  or  limit.  Under- 
stand, nothing  !  The  soul  describes  a  trajectory 
which  is  a  parabola  in  Infinity. 

If  you  will  question  yourselves,  if  you  will  consult 
the  least  of  your  faculties,  whether  you  be  governed 
by  your  intellect  or  your  heart,  whether  you  be 
contemplative  by  nature  or  active,  whatever  you 
may  be,  if  I  adjure  you  to  tell  me  what  you  are, 
you  will  be  forced  to  admit  that  there  is  within  you 
a  power,  an  irresistible  force,  which  nothing  can 
limit.  Multiply  every  ray  in  this  intelligence  eager 
for  light,  nothing  can  satisfy  it  ;  no  Science  can 
close  up  that  gaping  abyss,  or  quench  the  thirst 
for    knowledge   which    devours   you.      After   each 


188  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

discovery  you  will  only  say,  with  Newton,  "Intelli- 
gence is  like  a  child  on  the  sea- shore  which  seeks 
to  empty  the  ocean  with  a  shell  gathered  on  its 
sands  ;  the  child  can  never  empty  the  sea,  nor 
can  human  intelligence  ever  exhaust  the  ocean  of 
truth."  We  would  know  everything  ;  it  is  not 
enough  to  say,  "  Such  and  such  truths  are  sufficient 
for  me  ;  the  domain  of  experience  alone  is  my  pro- 
vince." No,  the  domain  of  the  knowable  for  man  is 
all  that  he  has  not  hitherto  explored.  When  he 
has  exhausted  the  phenomena,  he  seeks  to  know 
the  cause,  and  when  he  perceives  the  secondary 
causes,  he  seeks  to  know  the  first  cause.  Eternity 
will  not  be  too  long  for  him  ;  like  a  traveller  that 
nothing  can  stop,  he  will  go  forward  for  ever. 

But  why  do  I  speak  only  of  intelligence  !  I 
would  invoke  your  heart.  0  you  who  love,  who 
often  love  that  which  is  passing  more  than  you 
should,  do  you  love  only  the  earth  ?  do  you  love 
only  humanity  ?  If  you  have  known  all,  if  your 
heart  has  loved  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  your 
twenty  years,  with  all  the  vigour  of  maturity,  with 
all  the  exquisite  delicacy  of  the  temperament  best 
formed  for  affection,  if  it  loves  only  created  beings 
it  will  remain  empty  and  unsatisfied.  It  is  useless 
to  tell  yourself  that  the  morrow  will  bring  greater 
and  unknown  joys  that  past  days  have  not  brought  ; 
time  brings  with  it  only  vanity,  every  morrow  is 
hke  the  days  that  have  gone  before.  The  one  need 
of  the  heart,  as  of  the  inteUigence,  is  Infinity  ! 

Do  not  object  that  man  is  too  ambitious  in  his 
aspirations.     No,  such  is  his  natural  impulse.     He 


THE    EXISTENCE    OF    GOD.  189 

is  in  progress  of  evolution,  and  must  advance  ;  this 
is  bis  sublime  destiny.     Wbo  will  complain  of  it  ? 

Everywhere  this  force  declares  itself  with  equal 
vigour.  Follow  out  man's  aesthetic  sentiments,  the 
most  exalted  efforts  of  his  imagination  :  is  his 
admiration  ever  surpassed  ?  The  masterpieces  of 
art  and  nature  which  pass  before  you,  do  they 
ever  satiate  or  even  satisfy  you  ?  No  ;  your  Ideal 
is  higher  than  all  that  you  behold,  and  before  it 
the  real  pales  and  is  imperfect.  And  this  un- 
attained  Ideal  it  is  which  proves  your  need  for  the 
Infinite  and  Perfect,  and  that  It  is  the  supreme 
object  of  your  love,  your  thought,  and  your  admira- 
tion. This  is  the  greatest  fact  of  human  conscious- 
ness ;  keep  it  well  before  you,  for  it  is  the  very 
fibre  of  my  argument.  Man  is  in  a  perpetual 
motion,  to  which  it  is  impossible  to  assign  a  term, 
and  which  is  always  superior  to  everj^  fixed  term. 
A  motion  to  which  no  term  can  be  assigned  is 
called  an  indefinite  motion.  When,  in  mathematics, 
you  have  to  do  with  a  quantity  which  is  unknown, 
and  in  dynamics  with  a  force  whose  intensity  is 
not  determinable,  that  force  and  that  number  are 
called  an  indefinite  force,  or  an  indefinite  number. 
What  is  an  indefinite  force  or  number  ?  A  force 
and  a  number  which  tend  towards  something 
which  is  greater  and  higher  than  every  given  force 
and  every  given  number.  Now,  there  are  but  three 
things  here  below  :  the  finite,  the  infinite,  the 
indefinite.  The  indefinite  is  merely  the  incom- 
prehensible relation  between  the  finite  and  the 
infinite.     As  a  real  connection  supposes  the  reality 


190  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

of  the  two  terms,  wlien  I  perceive  in  finiteness  this 
indefinite  movement,  I  conclude  God.  Therefore, 
as  we  have  proved  in  a  palpable  manner  that 
intelligence  is  in  progression  with  an  energy  that 
cannot  be  retained,  consequently  with  an  indefinite 
force  ;  as  we  have  proved  that  the  heart  has  long- 
ings which  nothing  can  control  ;  as  we  have  proved 
the  existence  of  imaginative  powers  which  nothing 
can  limit — I  conclude  that  Infinity  is  the  term  to 
which  all  our  faculties  strive.  That  great  voice 
which  proceeds  from  our  intelligence,  our  heart, 
and  our  imagination  is  God  !  You  think,  0  man 
of  Science,  that  the  earth  and  its  mysteries  are 
the  limits  of  your  inquiring  intellect.  No  !  the 
limit  is  Infinity.  The  highest  aim  of  a  loving, 
beating,  insatiable  heart  is  not  the  love  of  the 
creature.  That  only  increases  its  thirst  ;  the  Infinite 
alone  can  quench  it.  And  finally,  brethren,  our 
highest  enthusiasm  and  admiration  is  not  of  this 
world  either  ;  it  is  not  even  in  that  beauty  which 
love  surrounds  with  almost  a  divine  halo.  Before 
the  Infinite,  towards  which  we  gaze  in  our  greatest 
moments  of  spiritual  exaltation,  all  earthly  fragile 
beauty  grows  dim. 

0  my  God  !  I  pity  from  my  heart  those  who,  in 
looking  into  their  own  souls,  have  not  known  or 
understood  Thy  presence  ;  those  who,  calling  upon 
Thy  name,  have  not  felt  their  heart  expand,  their 
eyes  open  to  the  divine  light,  and  their  souls 
gladdened  and  refreshed  by  a  breath  from  the 
shores  of  eternity  ! 


THE   EXISTENCE    OF    GOD.  191 

Leaving  ourselves,  let  us  now  listen  to  the 
evidence  of  the  human  race. 

One  individual  may  be  deceived  :  he  may  mis- 
take his  thoughts  and  aspirations  ;  the  testimony 
of  his  fellow-creatures  is  necessary  to  control  his 
personal  doctrines.  An  individual  may  be  under 
hallucination,  but  not  an  entire  race.  A  man 
may  have  insane  deskes  or  strange  visions  ;  not 
so  an  entii'e  species.  Let  us  study  history  and 
see  from  it  what  humanity  thinks  of  the  God  I 
proclaim  to  you.  Observe  the  mass  of  mankind  ; 
in  every  age  and  every  country  always  the  same 
cry,  always  the  same  worship.  They  worship 
certainly  in  divers  manners,  but  in  spite  of  all 
idolatries  the  One  God  remains.  They  bend  the 
knee  according  to  divers  rites  ;  God  is  always  the 
object  of  devotion.  They  may  blaspheme  ;  it  is 
always  God  whom  they  blasj)heme.  They  strive 
about  many  things,  not  always  under  the  same 
name  ;  it  is  always  God  who,  under  different  names, 
is  at  the  root  of  every  conflict.  Humanity  has 
faith  in  God — it  has  always  had  and  will  always 
have  ;  the  past  guarantees  the  future.  But,  you 
will  say,  "  What  does  such  testimony  prove  ?  it 
is  based  uj)on  number,  and  number  has  nothing 
to  do  with  truth."  Indeed,  it  is  so,  and  I  myself 
have  inveighed  several  times  against  a  majority 
with  regard  to  truth  and  justice  ;  why  then  should 
I  invoke  it  ?  Number  is  not  always  in  the  right, 
nor  on  the  side  of  truth.  I  quite  agree,  when  it 
is  alone  ;  but  number  brings  with  it  some  guarantee 
— for  instance,  intelligence.     If  humanity  in   its 


192  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

numberless  mass  has  confessed  God,  has  intelli- 
gent humanity  also  proclaimed  Him  ?  The  great 
geniuses  who  have  passed  away,  did  they  ccmfess 
God,  or  did  they  blaspheme  Him  ?  Here  is  the 
question.  Without  going  back  any  further  than 
Greece,  listen  to  Pythagoras  and  Socrates,  Aristotle 
and  Plato;  and  from  Eome  interrogate  Cicero, 
who  embraces  all  the  philosophic  eloquence  of 
Piome,  and  Seneca,  the  last  heathen  sage  on  whose 
brow  shone  a  ray  of  evangelical  wisdom.  Consult 
all  our  modern  Christian  philosophers  ;  the  publicity 
and  unanimity  of  their  testimony  dispenses  me 
from  enumerating  these  illustrious  names.  Ancient 
and  modern,  pagan  and  Christian,  almost  all  have 
immortalized  themselves  by  demonstrating  and 
adoring  God.  How  !  is  there  not  an  argument 
against  genius  ?  Are  number  and  intelligence 
infallible  ?     Are  they  never  deceived  ? 

Yes,  brethren,  they  may  be  deceived  ;  but  there 
is  a  third  guarantee  which  is  absolute.  When  you 
see  united  to  number  and  genius  a  last  element, 
the  most  sacred  and  the  most  sure — virtue  and 
goodness — my  brethren,  will  you  then  bow  down 
also  ?  You  may  rebel  against  the  mass  ;  mankind 
is  liable  to  aberrations,  ignorance,  caprice.  You 
may  say  to  genius,  "  You  have  conspired  against 
what  is  true  ;  you  have  become  the  accomplice 
of  force  ;  you  have  listened  to  the  egotistical 
instincts  of  your  nature  :  away  !  I  know  you  not." 
It  might  happen  that  in  so  doing  you  would  be 
justified.  But  that  which  imposes  itself  irresistibly, 
which  reveals  its  healthy  nature,  that  nature  which 


THE    EXISTENCE    OF    GOD.  193 

is  the  very  voice  of  God,  is  number,  genius,  and 
virtue  united.  When  virtue  intervenes  to  prevent 
genius  from  listening  to  the  egotism  of  its  dreams, 
when  vh'tue  is  there  to  impose  silence  upon  the 
low  instincts  of  the  mass,  how  can  you  do  other 
than  acknowledge  the  authority  of  virtue  sanction- 
ing genius  and  number  ?  Now,  all  men  of  virtue 
have  confessed  God  ;  all  those  who  have  died  in 
great  causes,  or  have  done  good  to  humanity,  have 
been  the  servants  of  God,  the  envoys  of  Him  who 
put  into  the  heart  virtue,  which  cannot  deceive, 
and  which  is  the  prophet  of  eternity. 

Well,  my  brethren,  we  belong  to  the  human 
family  in  which  men  of  virtue,  geniuses,  and 
nations  have  borne  witness  to  the  God  whom  I 
announce  to  you.  Let  us  be  with  these  great 
representatives  of  humanity;  let  us,  with  them, 
confess  the  God  of  all  ages  ;  let  us  exclaim  with 
this  great  assembly,  "I  believe  in  God!"  No, 
brethren,  let  us  not  say,  "  I  believe  :  "  let  us 
say,  "  I  am  convinced  that  the  God  they  proclaim 
exists  !  1  see  Him,  I  know  Him!"  When  virtue, 
genius,  and  number  are  on  our  side,  truth  must  be 
also. 

And  now  let  those  who  are  not  with  us  stand 
apart  !  Wlio  are  you  ?  Show  yourselves  ;  what  is 
your  number  ?  Do  you  count,  even,  in  France,  in 
Europe,  in  the  world,  in  this  century  which  we 
call  the  nineteenth,  or  in  all  centuries  ?  Will 
you  compare  the  suffrages  ?  Will  you  pass  in 
review  the  army  of  those  who  believe  only  in 
matter,  those  who  have  no  altar,  and  the  army  of 

o 


194  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

those  who  bend  the  knee  before  God  ?  will  you  com- 
pare the  lovely  and  gentle  family  of  the  sons  of 
God,  and  the  mass  of  those  lost  children  who  know 
Him  not  ? 

My  brethren,  these  lost  children  are  of  two  kinds  : 
there  are  certain  philosophers  amongst  them, 
victims  of  a  perverted  reason  or  a  pretentious 
science  ;  and  there  are  the  savages  who  know  no 
longer,  or  know  not  yet,  how  to  worship  God. 
Systematic  atheists  do  not  fear  to  proclaim  them- 
selves as  allies  of  these  degraded  offshoots  of  the 
human  race.  They  have  the  weakness  to  believe 
the  doubtful  testimony  of  travellers,  who  tell  them 
that  certain  debased  and  animalized  men  do  not 
believe  in  God,  and  have  no  conception  of  Him, 
and  hence  they  conclude  that  God  is  not  natural  to 
the  heart  of  man,  because  Australians,  Bosjesmen, 
or  Caribbees  do  not  name  Him  !  This  is  their 
triumphant  argument. 

Be  silent  !  When  the  vast  and  tranquil  ocean 
makes  its  voice  heard,  man  is  dumb.  When  the 
rivulet  is  confounded  with  the  mighty  ocean  into 
which  it  runs,  the  rivulet  has  no  longer  a  voice. 
Those  who  believe  in  God  are  the  ocean  ;  those 
who  believe  not,  this  lost  stream,  whose  murmur 
is  imperceptible.  Let  us  be,  then,  with  the  mighty 
ocean,  that  absorbs  in  its  vastness  the  little 
rivulet  which  would  trouble  the  majesty  of  its 
waves  ! 

No,  my  brethren,  it  will  never  be  given  to  any 
genius,  or  to  any  Science,  even  though  the  genius 
be  assisted  by  a  whole  nation,   even  though   all 


THE    EXISTENCE    OF    GOD.  195 

Europe  should  deny  tlie  God  of  its  fathers,  it  will 
never  be  given  to  any  one  to  trouble  the  harmony 
of  the  human  family  singing  the  most  beautiful 
of  all  canticles,  and  proclaiming  God  the  Father 
of  Nature  and  humanity,  its  Beginning,  its  End, 
and  its  Law. 


SEVENTH  DISCOUESE. 

eational  knowledge  of  god. 

My  Beethken, 

Six  centuries  ago,  in  one  of  those  monas- 
teries where  Virtue,  Science,  and  Faith  together 
found  an  asylum,  and  where  the  monks  received 
the  children  of  noble  families,  to  train  them  in  the 
love  of  God,  of  study,  and  of  prayer,  one  of  those 
children,  scarcely  arrived  at  the  age  of  reason,  put 
to  himself  and  reiterated  to  his  astonished  masters 
a  sublime  question.  He  asked,  looking  at  them 
with  great  wondering  eyes,  "What  is  God?" 
"No,  but,"  he  repeated,  when  they  had  given  him 
some  reply,  "  what  is  God  ?  Tell  me,  what  is 
God  ?  " 

That  child  was  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas  ;  those 
monks,  Benedictines  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
But,  my  brethren,  that  child,  also,  is  the  human 
soul  ;  those  monks,  all  that  has  a  voice  to  reply  to 
its  incessant  "  Why  ?  "  all  that  can  satisfy  its  in- 
satiable and  religious  curiosity. 

Truly,  if  there  is  a  question  which  the  soul  in 
its  thirst  for  truth  asks  itself  with  impatience,  a 
question  to  which  we  absolutely  require  an  answer. 


EATIONAL   KNOWLEDGE    OF    GOD.  197 

it  is  this  :  What  is  God  ?  I  ask  you  this  to-day,  or 
rather  you  ask  it  me  yourselves.  After  we  have 
estabhshed  that  God  is,  it  seems  to  me  that  you 
are  asking  in  your  own  minds  what  He  is.  You 
are  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  I  represent  the 
monks  who  endeavoured  to  answer  him. 

Is  there  a  possible  solution  to  this  problem  ? 
Certain  sceptics  have  denied  that  there  is.  We 
will  prove  to  them  that  they  lie.  If  the  solution  is 
possible  to  the  mind  of  man,  whither  does  it  extend, 
and  what  are  its  hmits  ?  In  short,  has  the  notion 
of  God  an  actual  importance  in  daily  life,  or  is  it 
only  an  abstract  truth,  without  influence  on  the 
action  of  things,  and  on  the  conduct  of  free  beings  ? 
This  is  the  question,  my  brethren,  that  we  have  to 
examine. 

When  you  have  once  felt  the  vital  importance  of 
a  rational  solution  of  this  problem,  you  will  hold  it 
fast.  You  wiU  no  longer  permit  shameless  sophists 
to  attack — in  the  name  of  an  arrogant  Science,  or 
of  a  reason  which  they  call  enfranchised,  but  which 
is,  on  the  contrary,  enslaved  by  a  thousand  preju- 
dices— the  one  mastering  idea  which  supports  all 
moral  Hfe,  and  to  which  is  attached  the  fate  of 
nations  and  the  future  of  humanity. 

My  brethren,  is  it  possible  for  human  intelligence 
to  answer  this  question  :  What  is  God  ? 

Of  course,  I  consider  it  an  established  fact  that 
you  cannot  escape  from  this  question  ;  it  is  one 
which  imposes  itself  upon  you,  it  rises  up  in  spite 
of  yourselves,  and  it  is  impossible  to  silence  it.   But 


198  SCIENCE   WITHOUT    GOD. 

in  that  case  what  an  alternative!  You  must  either 
attempt  the  herculean  task  of  its  solution,  or 
torture  yourself  in  the  endeavour  to  forget  it. 
Questions  once  raised  cannot  be  put  aside  ;  they 
must  either  be  answered,  or  remain  for  ever  to  vex 
humanity. 

Is  it  true,  then,  brethren,  that  every  soul  wishes 
to  discover  the  Divine  Nature,  and  that  none  can 
quell  within  themselves  this  sublime  and  pious 
curiosity  ? 

I  hear  in  the  midst  of  you  silent  voices  saying  to 
me,  "  No,  indeed,  such  a  desire  has  never  entered 
my  head.  Nothing  troubles  me  less.  I  live  my 
life  in  this  world  quietly  (or  anxiously)  :  I  am 
occupied  with  my  business  ;  I  see  what  is  useful  to 
me  ;  I  go  about  my  house  and  my  little  existence  ; 
but  I  assure  you  I  have  never  asked  myself  if  God 
exists,  nor  what  He  is  likely  to  be." 

I  acknowledge,  my  brethren,  some  souls  may  act 
thus  and  live  in  this  state.  But  I  do  affirm  that 
this  conduct  is  affected,  and  that  this  state  is 
transitory,  and  I  affirm  this  without  fear  of  contra- 
diction. 

Who  has  not  known  it  ?  There  are  moments 
when  the  soul  is  very  far  from  concerning  itself 
with  heavenly  things,  when  it  cares  nothing  for  the 
life  beyond  this,  when  earth  is  all-sufficient  for  it, 
and  it  is  absorbed  by  earthly  joys,  devom'ed  by 
earthly  anxieties.  The  soul  forgets  itself  and  it 
forgets  God.  This  is  a  fact  :  man  has  a  great  faculty 
for  diverting  his  attention  from  the  Infinite. 

But,    brethren,    this   distraction    is   but   short. 


RATIONAL    KNOWLEDGE    OF    GOD.  199 

However  long  may  be  the  sleep,  day  comes  at 
last,  and  you  must  open  your  eyes.  However 
agitated  and  absorbed  you  may  have  been,  there 
comes  a  time  when,  in  spite  of  yourself,  you  are 
no  longer  pre-occupied  by  the  affairs  of  the 
world  that  tire  you,  nor  seduced  by  its  pleasures 
that  enervate  you,  nor  carried  away  by  its  whirl- 
wind which  has  cast  you  aside  like  a  withered  leaf; 
there  comes  an  hour  when,  against  your  will,  you 
look  beyond,  seeking  and  longing  for  more  than  the 
world  can  give.  Can  you  escape  from  this  hour  ? 
In  vain  do  you  call  to  your  aid  pleasures  that  no 
longer  distract  you,  and  turn  to  this  world  which 
shuts  its  door  upon  you.  Then  the  Invisible 
torments  you,  speaks  to  your  soul,  pierces  your 
heart  as  it  were  with  a  poisoned  arrow  ;  unsatisfied 
longings  stir  your  soul  ;  you  feel  yourself  led  by  an 
irresistible  impulse  beyond  all  created  reality,  and 
you  say  with  Descartes  in  those  admirable  words, 
the  most  jDoignant  and  profound  in  which  the 
secret  of  consciousness  has  ever  been  expressed  : 
"  I  feel  that  I  am  an  imperfect  and  changeable 
thing,  aspiring  incessantly  towards  that  which  is 
perfect  and  unchangeable." 

In  such  an  hour — I  speak  to  those  who  have 
any  imagination — when  seated  by  the  vast  ocean, 
whose  murmur  delight  and  awes  you,  or  when 
looking  into  the  stillness  of  a  calm  starlight  night, 
into  that  heaven  so  much  greater  than  yourself, 
it  is  impossible  but  that,  forgetful  alike  of  your- 
self and  your  sorrows,  you  should  feel  the  reality 
of    that  mysterious   world  which    none   can    see, 


200  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

but  which  alone   can  fulfil  the  immensity  of  our 
longings  ! 

In  your  truest  nature  you  touch  that  unknown 
of  which  the  sea  is  an  image,  and  the  heavens  a 
figure  in  their  unfathomable  profundity — unknow- 
ingly, but  none  the  less  fervently,  your  soul  cries 
out  to  God.     Deny  it  not,  or  you  lie  to  yourselves. 

My  brethren,  even  if  imagination  is  silent,  the 
heart  cannot  be,  and  the  most  hardened  hear  its 
voice.  When  tired,  crushed,  worn  out  with  anguish, 
and  beaten  to  the  very  ground  with  sorrow  and 
misfortune,  like  a  tree  broken  down  by  the  tempest, 
it  seems  to  bend  and  ask  for  mercy,  does  not  the 
human  heart  in  its  agony  rise  to  something  higher 
than  the  earth,  and  cry  aloud  for  that  which  it 
knows  and  feels  this  world  cannot  give  ?  Is  there 
not  a  supreme  moment  in  which  it  exclaims,  "  My 
God  is  everything  here  ?  Is  there  not  something 
beyond,  since  the  world  cannot  satisfy  me  ?  0 
God,  is  it  not  Thou  that  art  the  all-sufficient  One  ?" 
Let  those  who  love  or  have  loved,  answer.  But 
then  we  must  know  who  and  what  this  God  is  ;  for 
we  cannot  love  a  Being  we  are  ignorant  of,  and  the 
first  want  of  love  is  to  know  the  object  of  its  affec- 
tion. Did  the  heart  not  prompt  the  intelligence, 
this  latter  would  have  but  to  follow  its  natural 
movement  to  enter  that  path  which  leads  to  the 
Infinite;  and  yet,  more  eagerly  than  either  the 
heart  or  the  imagination,  it  will  ask  itself.  What  is 
God  ?  When  it  has  sought  for  and  discovered  the 
law  of  phenomena,   when  it   is    raised  by  these 


RATIONAL    KNOWLEDGE    OF    GOD.  201 

plienomena  from  light  to  light,  seeing  the  end  ever 
fleeing  before  it,  impatient  to  penetrate  the  enigma 
of  things,  it  will  also  invoke  that  One  who  is  the 
origin  and  end  of  all,  but  cannot  be  grasped  in 
anything  visible.  You  who  have  loved,  have 
sought  for  the  truth,  have  dreamt  of  infinite  beauty, 
is  this  not  your  history  ?  It  is  the  history  of  all 
that  lives  and  breathes,  of  all  that  is  intelligent, 
loving,  and  imaginative  ;  it  is  the  history  of  man.  ' 
What  does  it  mean  ?  It  means  that  in  that  saddest 
but  most  sublime  hour  of  all  human  life — most  sad, 
because  in  it  we  feel  our  own  nothingness  ;  most 
sublime,  because  it  approaches  us  nearest  to  God — 
we  ask  ourselves  involuntarily,  "What  is  this  un- 
known that  ever  rises  up  before  us  ?  We  see  a 
glimpse  of  it  beyond  and  above  all  our  dreams, 
our  loves,  aU  that  we  seek  !  Always  and  everywhere 
it  is  before  us.  What,  then,  is  it  ?  "  I  ask  you 
this  question  as  I  ask  it  to  myself.  It  is  mo- 
mentous and  must  be  solved. 

Before  any  examination,  I  reply  without  hesi- 
tating, the  solution  is  possible.  That  these  great 
wants  should  remain  unsatisfied,  to  be  a  torture 
to  man,  is  a  repugnant  idea.  What  !  not  a  creature 
but  can  satisfy  its  legitimate  instincts,  and  yet 
the  highest  aspiration  of  man,  that  which  is  his 
divine  attribute,  which  raises  him  above  all  else, 
remains  useless,  and  thus  becomes  his  suffering! 
No,  that  is  not,  that  cannot  be  ! 

Eeason  confirms  unanswerably  this  argument 
taken  from  the  instincts  of  our  great  and  religious 
natm'e.     Whenever  we  perceive  an  effect,  such  is 


202  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

the  constitution  of  our  intelligence  that  it  can  by 
this  effect  discover  the  cause.  Now,  as  we  perceive, 
both  in  the  world  and  in  the  soul,  numerous  effects 
of  the  First  Cause,  we  can  conclude  that  our  intel- 
ligence is  capable  of  knowing  God  through  the 
world  and  through  the  soul.  This  is  the  doctrine 
of  Saint  Paul  :  "  The  invisible  things  of  God  from 
the  creation  of  the  ivorlcl  are  clearly  seen,  being  under- 
stood by  the  things  that  are  made.'"  What  do  I  say  ? 
Not  only  can  God  be  known,  I  hasten  to  add,  He  is 
known.  Humanity  knows  Him.  You  all  know 
Him;  and  truly  one  would  say,  when  I  put  this 
question,  that  I  was  speaking  to  an  assemblage  of 
savages,  who  had  never  heard  the  name  of  this 
ineffable  Being.  Why  did  you  not  arrest  my 
words  ?  Why  did  you  not  say  at  once,  "  Enough  ! 
The  God  you  preach  is  living  amongst  us,  in  our 
country,  in  this  Europe,  in  the  whole  world  ;  there 
is  not  a  human  being  who  cannot  articulate  His 
name."  Can  you  name  that  which  you  do  not 
know  !  Is  there  a  name  more  widely  known,  or 
one  more  frequently  on  the  lips,  than  that  of  God  ? 
Then  you  have  heard  and  seen  Him  since  you  gave 
Him  an  appellation  ?  You  say,  God  ;  the  Latins 
say,  Deus  ;  the  Greeks,  Oeoç  ;  the  Jews,  Elohim  ; 
the  Ai-abs,  Allah.  Every  nation  names  Him  after 
their  own  manner  ;  all,  without  a  single  exception, 
give  Him  a  name.  Nor  do  they  stop  there  ;  they 
fear  Him  and  love  Him,  they  pray  to  Him,  and 
kneeling  down  they  adore  Him. 

What  is  praying  ?    Brethren,  to  pray  is  to  draw 
near  to  God.      This   movement  is   at  times  irre- 


RATIONAL   KNOWLEDGE    OF    GOD.  203 

sistible.  If  one  were  an  atheist  to  the  very  fibre,  at 
certain  times,  in  spite  of  one's  self,  the  knees  would 
bend  and  the  hands  be  clasped,  or  if  the  knees  did 
not  bend,  the  heart  would.  The  soul  expands  and 
escapes — whither  ?  It  flies  upward  and  stretches 
towards  the  Almighty.  Prayer  is  the  movement 
of  the  soul  stirred  by  the  heart,  and  carried  resist- 
lessly  towards  the  Eternal  One. 

You  pray  ;  therefore  you  know  God.  One  is  not 
moved  by  an  unknown  term.  Humanity  prays, 
you  all  pray  :  God  is  no  stranger  to  you.  You 
don't  pray  daily,  nor  on  Sundays  ;  you  are  not 
present  at  the  Christian  sacrifice  ;  but,  brethren, 
you  pray  at  your  own  time.  You  pray  when 
Death  says  to  you,  "  On  your  knees  !  "  you  pray 
when  misfortune  crushes  you  in  its  xDowerful  arms  ; 
you  pray  when  despair  overwhelms  you,  when  you 
feel  all  is  lost.  In  spite  of  yourself  your  heart 
shrinks,  and  then  expands  again  to  give  vent  to  a 
blessed  name  ;  you  exclaim,  "  My  God  !  " 

Who  is  this  God  ?  What  is  His  strange  and 
mysterious  nature  ? 

You  have  an  innate  and  confused  consciousness  ; 
I  wish  to  throw  light  upon  it  and  define  it,  and 
give  you  an  idea  of  God,  which  will  answer  at  once 
to  your  will  and  your  mind,  your  want  to  love  and 
your  intelligence. 

There  are  two  ways  of  knowing  any  one  :  either 
to  look  at  their  works,  or  else  to  ask  them  who  they 
are,  and  accept  their  own  testimony. 

I  wish  to  know  one  amongst  you.  If  he  is  a 
painter  I  look  at  his  pictures  ;  a  man  of  action,  I 


204  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

consider  the  results  of  his  activity  ;  a  statesman, 
I  study  the  effects  of  his  policy.  In  a  word,  I  watch 
him,  and  if  I  wish  to  gain  a  more  exact  idea,  I 
approach  him  and  become  admitted  to  his  in- 
timacy, so  as  to  learn  and  hear  from  himself  his 
own  testimony.  "  I  have  followed  your  actions,"  I 
tell  him,  "  I  know  your  talents,  I  foresee  what  you 
may  become  ;  but  still,  what  is  the  mystery  of  your 
life?  There  is  always  a  depth  spoken  of  by  no  one, 
a  reserve  not  laid  bare  by  works  ;  initiate  me  into 
this  secret."  And  indeed,  even  if  you  live  for 
twenty,  thirty,  forty  years,  half  a  century,  by  the 
side  of  a  man,  you  follow  him  in  vain  ;  however 
little  depths  he  may  possess,  you  cannot  penetrate 
the  inmost  recesses  of  his  heart.  His  works  reveal 
to  you  the  exterior  of  the  temple  ;  they  do  not  teach 
you  what  is  hidden  in  the  sanctuary  :  they  have 
not  revealed  to  you  the  secret  of  his  free  will,  or 
of  that  which  constitutes  the  personality,  which 
is,  after  all,  the  essence  of  the  human  being;  into 
that  essence  you  will  not  penetrate  ! 

So  it  is  with  God.  We  can  learn  to  know  Him 
in  two  ways  :  by  His  works  and  by  His  own 
evidence. 

For  the  moment  I  do  not  wish  to  appeal  to  God's 
own  testimony.  I  will  not  even  inquire  if  God  has 
revealed  Himself  such  as  He  is  in  His  inner  nature  ; 
that  is  the  question  of  Divine  revelation  ;  for  the 
moment  I  put  it  aside.  I  may  perhaps  be  per- 
mitted to  touch  upon  it  before  you  some  other  year, 
and  to  introduce  you  into  that  world  of  divine 
mystery.     To-day  I  pause  on  the  threshold. 


RATIONAL    KNOWLEDGE    OF    GOD.  205 

By  thus  limiting  ourselves,  brethren,  our  object 
will  be  to  determine  the  rational  idea  of  God  as  it 
is  set  forth  in  His  work. 

The  works  of  God  are  the  universe  and  the  soul. 
These  are  to  us  God's  signature.  If  we  wish  to 
know  Him  it  is  to  them  we  must  turn.  With  those 
two  things  we  cannot  know  God  completely  ;  and 
thus  the  notion  we  can  form  of  Him  is  necessarily 
inadequate.  "  Why  ?  "  you  will  say.  "  Is  not  the 
universe  vast  and  lovely  enough?  Is  there  any- 
thing to  add  to  the  profundity  of  a  space  without 
limit,  and  to  the  incommensurable  depths  of  the 
human  soul  ?  If  the  universe  has  this  immensity, 
and  is  displayed  in  those  marvellous  beauties  that 
we  know  ;  if  it  is  the  cosmos,  as  science  calls  it — 
that  is  to  say,  splendour — surely  it  can  teach  us  to 
know  God  ?  What  !  have  not  the  stars  written  His 
name  in  letters  of  sufficient  brilliancy?  Is  not 
the  soul  of  man,  with  its  tumultuous  passions,  its 
insatiable  heart,  its  ever-active  intelligence,  its 
infinite  desires  ;  all  the  oceans  of  every  world,  and 
the  human  soul  multiplying  in  perhaps  endless 
humanities — is  this  not  sufficient  to  reveal  God  ? 

No,  brethren.  Whatever  may  be  the  power,  the 
genius,  or  the  ability  to  translate  what  you  think, 
what  you  mean,  or  what  you  feel,  when  you  send 
it  forth  into  the  world,  if  you  are  a  writer,  artist, 
musician,  or  orator,  in  short  a  man  who  wishes  to 
make  his  soul  sink  into  the  soul  of  a  multitude — 
I  feel  it  now  whilst  I  am  speaking  to  you — directly 
you  have  to  work  outside  yourself,  the  effect  pro- 
duced is  always  beneath  that  which  you  feel  within 
yourself. 


206  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

You  may  invoke  every  faculty  of  the  intelligence, 
nothing  will  do  it  :  the  condition  is  absolute,  the 
law  fatal.  Every  time  a  sound,  be  it  only  a  sound, 
passes  your  lips  to  express  a  sentiment,  never  does 
that  sound  render  the  fullness  of  the  feeling  which 
absorbs  you,  never  !  Not  if  you  put  into  it  all  the 
power  of  a  Talma,  never  !  And  the  man  who  says, 
"  I  have  interpreted  my  thought,"  that  man  con- 
demns himself  as  but  an  inferior  thinker  ;  and  the 
artist  who  says,  "  I  have  interpreted  my  dream," 
will  never  be  a  Michel-Angelo  or  a  Eaphael.  The 
musician  who  says,  "  I  have  expressed  this  passion 
which  inspires  me,"  that  musician  will  never,  I  tell 
you,  be  a  Mozart  or  a  Beethoven  ! 

Yes,  that  which  is  within  one,  from  the  moment 
that  it  is  expressed,  falls,  through  that  very  reason, 
into  a  condition  of  weakness  and  insufficiency. 
And  the  greatest  geniuses,  if  you  study  their 
masterpieces,  will  give  you  proof  of  what  I  advance. 

The  finest  pages  of  Bossuet,  the  most  beautiful 
statues  chiselled  by  Michel-Angelo,  are  far  from 
being  the  ideal  of  these  geniuses.  Why  ?  Because 
you  have  to  take  into  account  things  outside  your- 
self— matter,  marble,  the  voice,  space,  time,  all 
fragile  and  imperfect  things.  Now,  what  you  feel 
and  think — in  a  word,  the  Ideal — is  above  time, 
above  space,  above  all  realities.  It  enters  into  a 
superior  region;  and  when  incarnate  in  the  real 
it  fades. 

Well,  then,  shall  I  tell  you?  God  does  not 
escape  this  condition.     From  the  day  when  the 


RATIONAL    KNOWLEDGE    OF   GOD.  207 

universe  was  made  outside  Him  it  was  made  im- 
perfect. Having  begun  it  must  continue.  To 
continue  is  to  progress  towards  something  that 
one  is  not.     To  progress  is  to  admit  imperfection. 

Thus  w^e  have  before  us  the  effects  of  God, 
inferior  to  God.  Therefore  we  cannot  through 
those  effects  arrive  at  a  complete  knowledge  of  the 
cause  ;  and  that  is  why  our  notion  of  God  taken 
from  the  universe  and  the  human  soul  is  neces- 
sarily imperfect. 

So  we  are  limited  in  the  knowledge  of  God,  but 
yet  we  would  learn  what  the  universe  and  the 
human  soul  can  teach  us  about  Him. 

I  come  back  to  the  principle  of  causality,  which 
will  give  you  the  whole  secret  of  such  idea  of  God 
as  human  intelligence,  outside  revelation,  can  form 
for  itself.  Now,  this  principle  is  such  that  there 
must  be  absolute  relation  between  the  cause  and 
the  effect.  First  of  all,  whatever  is  in  the  effect 
must  exist  at  least  equally  in  the  cause.  And  if 
the  cause  is  the  absolute  First  Cause,  the  Cause 
which  has  no  cause,  as  Aristotle  said  when  he  called 
it  the  immovable  Mover,  then  it  is  not  only  necessary 
that  what  is  in  the  effect  should  be  in  the  cause, 
but  that  which  is  in  the  effect  must  exist  in  the 
cause  absolutely,  without  limit,  and  without 
imperfection. 

That  is  why  we  have  three  ways  of  enabhng  us 
to  form  an  idea  of  God,  starting  from  the  universe 
and  the  soul.  The  first  is  to  ascribe  to  the  cause 
that  which  we  see  in  the  effect  ;   the  second,  to 


208  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

ascribe  to  the  cause  that  which  we  see  in  the  effect 
putting  aside  its  imperfections;  the  third,  to  ascribe 
to  the  cause  that  which  we  see  in  the  effect  carry- 
ing the  perfections  to  infinity.  These  three  ways 
are  called  by  well-known  names  :  the  method  of 
causality,  the  method  of  negation  or  transcend- 
ence, and  the  method  of  analogy. 

By  the  aid  of  this  triple  process,  philosophic 
reason  has  for  ages  succeeded  in  forming  for  itself 
a  logical  notion  of  God.  Seeing  all  beings  proceed- 
ing from  Him,  it  called  Him  the  First  Cause  ;  see- 
ing all  things  changed,  the  Immutable  One  ;  seeing 
the  creatures  of  a  day,  the  Eternal  One  ;  seeing 
worlds  scattered  in  space,  the  Omnipotent  One  ; 
seeing  all  things  manifold,  imperfect,  and  infinite, 
it  named  Him  Unity,  Perfection,  and  Infinitude. 
The  notion  of  God  is  that  of  absolute  Being,  He 
IS  :  this  is  what  everything  proclaims,  the  soul  and 
the  universe,  the  smallest  of  creatures  and  the 
most  sublime. 

Indeed,  if  the  universe  is  relative,  changing, 
limited,  and  partial,  you  conclude  from  it  Being  ; 
but  a  Being  without  relation  or  limit,  which 
depends  on  no  other,  but  is  absolute  ;  for  to  depend 
on  another  is  to  be  in  relation  to  that  other.  If 
even  the  universe  did  not  spread  that  splendid 
perspective  before  our  eyes  which  tempts  us  to 
analyze  it,  if  it  were  no  more  than  vile  matter,  a 
grain  of  sand,  an  atom,  a  little  dust  under  your 
foot,  thus  reduced  it  would  suffice  to  raise  you  by 
your  reason,  to  God.  By  asking  yourself.  Whence 
comes   it  ?   you   draw  nearer   and  nearer  to  the 


EATIONAL    KNOWLEDGE    OF    GOD.  20D 

Absolute,  the  Being  which  proceeds  from  no  other 
and  can  alone  explain  every  phenomenon. 

So  that  if  we  know  how  to  follow  the  spontaneous 
movement  of  our  intelligent  soul,  we  attain  without 
hindrance  to  the  idea  of  the  Being  we  seek.  The 
least  atom,  a  blade  of  grass,  a  little  insect,  speaks 
to  us  of  the  Absolute  Being  ;  for  the  smallest 
molecules,  the  minutest  algse,  the  tiniest  infusoria, 
are  beings  that  could  never  be  conceived  without 
Him.  Now,  when  you  have  Absolute  Being  you 
have  the  true  notion  of  God,  that  which  He  Him- 
self declared.  Allow  me  this  quotation  from 
revelation,  that  revelation  which  is  a  part  of  human 
reason.  You  come,  I  said,  to  the  very  idea  that 
God  Himself  gave,  already  centuries  back,  to  a 
man  who  transmitted  it  through  all  ages,  and 
which  no  age  has  ever  mistaken.  That  man  was 
Moses. 

Sent  by  Jehovah  to  free  his  people,  Moses  said 
to  God,  "  When  I  come  unto  the  children  of  Israel, 
and  shall  say  unto  them,  Tha  God  of  yom-  fathers 
hath  sent  me  unto  you  ;  and  they  shall  say  to  me, 
What  is  His  name  ?  what  shall  I  say  unto  them  '? 
And  God  said  unto  Moses,  I  AM  THAT  I  AM:  Thus 
shalt  thou  say  to  the  children  of  Israel,  I  AM  hath 
sent  me  unto  you."  You  hear  :  "  I  AM"  without 
restriction.  He  is.  Thus  there  is  no  limit  to  His 
being;  He  is  all  activity,  power,  intelligence,  energy, 
and  love. 

He  is.  What  words  !  God  speaking  to  Moses 
added  a  most  significant  speech,  and  one  to  which 
we  bear  witness  unto  this  day.     He  said,  "  This  is 

p 


210  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

My  name  for  ever,  and  this  is  My  memorial  unto 
all  generations." 

0  Moses,  didst  thou  think  when  Jehovah  spake 
to  thee,  that,  thousands  of  years  later,  a  man 
before  a  religious  assembly  should  recall  that 
sublime  appellation?  Didst  thou  think  that  he 
would  give  to  other  men,  asking  the  name  of  God, 
as  thou  didst  ask  it  of  God  Himself,  the  same 
answer  that  thy  God  and  ours  gave  thee  out  of  the 
burning  bush  ? 

Yes,  brethren,  I  give  you  that  answer.  Philosophy 
interpreted  by  Pythagoras  or  Plato  himself  could 
not  have  given  a  greater.  This  notion  of  Absolute 
Being  contains  and  governs  all  ;  all  the  attributes 
of  God  follow  with  irresistible  logic.  "What  are 
those  attributes  but  the  different  aspects  under 
which  we  consider  the  Absolute  Being  in  relation 
to  ourselves  and  other  creatures,  a  manner  of 
lisping  the  name  of  Jehovah,  of  spelling  out  its 
ineffable  letters. 

Whatever  we  say  of  Him,  whether  affirmatively 
or  negatively,  we  always  express  that  He  is. 
We  refuse  Him  certain  names,  such  as  change, 
complexity  ;  but  such  words  imply  not-being. 
We  affirm  certain  qualities  in  Him,  but  such 
qualities  are  inseparable  from  being  itself.  We 
proclaim  God  intelligent  ;  but  intelligence  is  the 
very  highest  mode  of  being.  We  proclaim  Him 
good  and  loving  ;  but  goodness  is  the  perfection  of 
an  intelligent  being.  We  acknowledge  Him  glorious 
and  beautiful  ;  but  glory  and  beauty  are  the  radia- 
tion of  being. 


KATIONAL    KNOWLEDGE    OF    GOD.  211 

Would  you  believe  that  people  wish  to  take  away 
from  this  Absolute  Being  His  personality,  intelli- 
gence, and  love  ?  They  have  dared  to  say  God 
was  impersonal  !  But  if  you  take  away  from  a 
being  its  personality  you  take  away  everything. 
What  is  there  better  in  it  than  personality  ? 
To  be  a  person  is  to  be  an  intelligent  individuahty. 
And  you  refuse  this  to  the  Infinite  ?  To  the 
infinite  of  pantheism  and  materialism  if  you  like  : 
that  of  matter  is  impersonality  itself  ;  that  of 
pantheism  is  also  impersonal,  since  it  is  an  abstrac- 
tion; that  of  materialistic  pantheism  is  still  im- 
personal, since  it  is  the  chaos  of  matter  without 
form  or  name.  On  what  grounds  would  they 
deprive  God  of  that  which  is  greatest  of  all  ?  On 
a  false  notion  of  personality.  Personality,  or 
intelligent  individuality,  does  not  mean  limit  ;  it 
means  unity  and  distinction.  An  intelligent  being 
is  apart  and  distinct  from  all  that  is  not  himself  ; 
that  is  a  personal  being.  Now,  not  only  do  unity 
and  distinction  not  disagree  with  the  idea  of  the 
Infinite,  but  they  become  Him  more  than  they  do 
any  creature.  The  Infinite  is,  or  He  is  not  ;  He  tran- 
scends all  the  phenomena  of  the  universe,  or  He  is 
only  an  imitation  of  the  Infinite,  Infinity  is  i^er- 
sonality  itself  :  a  personality  of  threefold  power. 

And  intelligence  and  love,  how  can  we  take 
these  from  that  which  humanity  adores  ?  It  is 
an  absurdity  and  a  blasphemy  ;  since  indeed,  in 
spite  of  all,  humanity  adores  and  prays  to  God  ! 
Of  that  God  you  would  make,  what  ?  Matter  ?  Of 
that  God  you  would  make,  what  ?    A  being  without 


212  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

intelligence  ?  Brethren,  one  does  not  adore  matter, 
or  kneel  before  a  thing  without  intelligence  ;  one 
loves,  adores,  and  prays  to  a  living  Being,  a  Being 
with  whom  one  can  communicate,  a  Being  that 
answers  you  when  you  say  you  love  Him — a 
Person,  in  short.  Can  one  hold  commerce  with 
the  dust  one  treads  underfoot,  with  indeterminate 
beings  who  do  not,  properly  speaking,  exist  ?  And 
yet  humanity  holds  commerce  with  God  ;  therefore 
we  must  admit  in  this  Being  of  whom  I  speak,  not 
only  Infinity  and  perfection,  but  personality,  in- 
telligence, and  love. 

Then  humanity  is  no  longer  a  miserable  dupe, 
the  history  of  humanity  is  not  a  bitter  comedy,  but 
we  are  truly  praying,  adoring,  and  loving  that  One 
who  has  the  power  to  receive  adoration,  prayer, 
and  love,  the  living  God,  such  as  our  consciences 
feel  and  proclaim  Him.  For,  my  brethren,  the 
human  conscience,  so  outraged  in  this  world,  must  be 
satisfied  at  some  future  time  ;  if  not  on  this  sorrow- 
ful planet  on  which  justice  so  often  goes  astray,  at 
least  in  other  more  fortunate  worlds,  the  human 
conscience  must  be  eased  of  the  vices  which 
scandalize  it,  and  be  avenged  of  the  tyrants  who 
have  oppressed  it.  What  !  You  see  it  struggling 
with  injustice,  crushed,  laughed  at,  and  it  is  ever 
to  be  a  victim  ?  There  is  to  be  no  just  and  living 
Being  who  shall  one  day  embrace  it  and  give  it 
that  freedom  for  which  it  cries  aloud  ! 

This  cannot  be,  since  to  all  the  many  attributes 
we  ascribe  to  God  we  must  add  that  of  justice. 
Hence  we  bow  before  that  One  who  is  intelligent, 


RATIONAL    KNO\\T[jEDGE    OF    GOD.  213 

good,  powerful,  and  holy,  and  "who  can  in  His  own 
time  make  that  justice  prevail  which  is  to-day  too 
little  recognized  and  so  often  trodden  underfoot. 

Do  not  think  that  this  idea  of  God  is  unimpor- 
tant, that  it  matters  little  what  is  thought  about 
Him,  and  that  it  is  a  simple  affair  of  theory. 

Superficial  minds,  who  think  themselves  practical 
because  they  see  only  the  exterior  of  life,  willingly 
imagine  that  it  is  of  no  consequence  whether  you 
think  of  God  after  the  manner  of  the  materialists 
or  the  pantheists,  the  Jews  or  the  Mahometans, 
and  that  the  world  will  go  on  just  the  same.  We 
must  undeceive  them.  And  to  convince  them  I 
have  but  to  glance  at  the  chief  features  of  history. 

All  the  individual  life  of  nations  and  all  the 
moral  life  of  humanity  hangs  upon  the  idea  of 
God.  And  if  in  studying  the  philosophy  of  history 
you  wish  to  obtain  all  knowledge  of  a  nation,  or 
of  a  race  and  its  development,  there  is  only  one 
problem  to  solve  :  what  idea  of  God  was  current 
in  this  nation,  or  in  this  race,  or  in  this  humanity  ? 
And  in  accordance  with  such  an  idea  so  will  you 
have  such  a  nation,  such  a  race,  such  a  civilization, 
and  such  a  humanity. 

That  is  why,  in  broaching  this  question  before 
you,  I  feel  an  unspeakable  emotion,  for  we  are  at 
a  time  in  which,  in  France  and  in  Eui'ope,  the 
very  idea  of  God  is  in  question.  It  is  not,  believe 
me,  persecution  of  the  Church,  nor  blasphemy 
directed  against  those  who  represent  outwardly 
the  cause  of  God,  that  are  alone  in  question  ;  that 
which  is  at  stake — I  tell  you  with  the  profoundest 

p3 


214  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD.. 

conviction — that  which  is  at  stake  in  France,  in 
Europe,  and  in  the  whole  of  humanity,  is  the  idea 
of  God. 

You  have  often  heard  of  the  Antichrist  :  this 
word  has  a  meaning  of  its  own  in  Christian  litera- 
ture. By  Antichrist  is  meant  that  which  is  opposed 
to  Christ,  and  it  is  supposed  to  contain  all  that 
is  the  worst  in  humanity  given  over  to  evil.  Well, 
there  is  something  even  more  opposed  to  Jesus 
Christ  than  the  Antichrist  ;  that  is  the  Anti-God. 
It  does  not  only  deny  Christ,  it  denies  God.  It 
does  not  only  deny  the  Mediator,  it  denies  Him 
that  sent  Him  ;  it  does  not  only  deny  the  glory 
which  shone  on  the  forehead  of  the  Master,  it 
denies  the  divinity  that  filled  it.  It  is  the  negation 
of  God  which  tends  to  prevail  in  this  day. 

Four  ideas  of  God  have  in  turn  ruled  mankind. 
The  primitive  world  awoke  as  the  daybreak  of 
humanity,  and  the  first  man  felt  upon  him  the 
breath  of  his  Creator,  the  touch  of  the  hands  that 
formed  him.  The  idea  of  a  Creator  was  dominant, 
and  founded  the  great  era  of  the  Patriarchs. 

That  idea  became  profaned  ;  everything  was 
worshipped  :  trees,  stones,  animals,  and  men,  all 
were  gods.  They  apotheosized  emperors  and  Ceesars. 
Paganism  reigned. 

Nations  rose  against  nation.  Egypt  fell  before 
Babylon  ;  Persia  succumbed  to  the  Medes  ;  the 
West  snatched  the  sceptre  from  the  East;  the  armies 
of  Greece  penetrated  into  ancient  India.  At  length 
Eome  arose.  She  assailed  them  all  ;  force  and 
oppression  reigned.     Universal   empire  prevailed. 


RATIONAL    KNOWLEDGE    OF    GOD.  215 

The  idea  of  the  Godhead  became  divided.  Gods 
were  multipHed.  There  was  strife  between  them 
and  consequently  between  the  races.  The  gods 
of  the  CajDitol  prevailed;  they  subdued  the  other 
nations.  The  gods  of  Eome  cried  to  the  others, 
"  Come  near  and  burn  your  incense."  Beautiful 
Greece,  who  multiplied  her  gods  at  the  will  of  her 
genius,  brought  them  all.  The  East  followed  the 
steps  of  the  conqueror  ;  all  drew  near  to  the  Capitol 
to  bm-n  their  incense.  They  were  slaves  !  From 
such  a  notion  of  God  came  such  a  race  and  such 
a  nation. 

And  the  God  of  the  Jews — the  terrible  God 
called  Jehovah  ?  He  had  to  be  terrible  to  govern 
this  hard  and  inconstant  people.  He  had  to  speak 
to  them  through  thunder  from  Sinai,  and  threaten 
with  death  until  the  fourth  generation  His  guilty 
worshippers. 

He  said  to  Moses,  "  Go  into  Egypt  and  deliver 
My  people  ;  and  if  they  will  not  let  them  go  I  will 
stretch  forth  My  hand  and  plague  the  Egyptians. 
They  will  pursue  you,  but  you  shall  strike  with 
your  staff  the  waves  of  the  Eed  Sea,  and  they  shall 
divide,  and  My  people  shall  go  through  ;  but  the 
waters  shall  come  again  upon  the  Egyptians,  and 
they  shall  be  overthrown." 

Israel  was  unfaithful  ;  it  set  up  the  golden  calf  and 
fell  down  before  this  strange  divinity.  Moses, 
armed  with  the  power  of  his  mighty  God,  appeared. 
He  broke  the  tables  of  the  Law,  exclaiming,  "  The 
first  who  bends  the  knee  before  the  idol  shall  be 
struck  dead  ;  and  serpents  shall  come  among  you, 


21G  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

whose  deadly  bite  shall  testify  to  the  inexorable 
vengeance  of  the  God  whose  messenger  I  am." 

And  the  nation  was  afraid.  Fear  is  like  the  salt 
of  the  sea  ;  it  preserves,  and  men  held  by  it  do 
not  become  corrupt.  So  it  was  that  the  terrible 
Jehovah  kept  the  Jews,  and  they  still  live  in 
remembrance  of  His  name  of  dread. 

Then  there  came  a  man  who  had  the  astonishing 
power  of  altering  completely  the  human  idea  of 
God.  He  said,  "The  God  you  have  till  now  feared 
I  am  come  to  teach  you  to  love  ;  the  God  you  have 
known  terrible  I  am  come  to  show  you  gentle  as  a 
father."  Then  when  Jesus  appeared  in  Judea, 
w4iich  still  trembled  under  the  implacable  scourge 
of  Jehovah,  it  seemed  that  the  world  had  taken 
a  leap. 

Humanity  was  changed.  After  having  knelt 
before  its  God  trembling  like  a  slave,  immolated 
its  sons  as  holocausts,  and  through  fear  cast  all 
at  His  feet,  suddenly  it  awoke  ;  it  adored  and 
learned  to  love  the  God  that  a  better  light  revealed 
to  it,  and  He  whom  it  had  only  named  with  trem- 
bling is  now  called  Father. 

Brethren,  you  are  of  that  humanity.  You  love 
God  more  than  you  fear  Him.  Yes  !  you  love 
Him,  whatever  you  may  say.  In  spite  of  yourselves, 
a  profound  feeling  of  love  to  God  stirs  in  the  very 
depths  of  your  soul.  Well,  and  what  is  the  result 
of  this  force  ?  You  love  God — and  then  ?  Then 
we  love  one  another.  Then  we  say  to  the  slave, 
"Arise!  God  has  broken  your  chains."  We  say 
to  the  child  helpless  in  the  hands  of  a  cruel  father, 


RATIONAL    KNOWLEDGE    OF    GOD.  217 

"  Poor  little  creature  without  a  refuge  against 
relentless  authority  !  thou  hast  now  a  Father  in 
heaven.  Fear  nothing  ;  thou  art  adopted  by  God." 
Then  you  say  to  the  wife,  "  Cast  off  thy  chains, 
0  woman  !  Thou  art  the  daughter  of  God,  who 
is  the  Father  of  all."  Men  love  one  another. 
Nations  call  each  other  brethren.  Christian 
humanity  succeeds  to  pagan  ;  Europe  in  Christian 
fraternit}^  to  Europe  at  war  ;  to  an  enslaved  world 
a  world  of  liberty. 

This  love  has  diminished.  The  idea  of  God  grows 
dim  and  becomes  effaced.  What  do  I  say  ?  Not 
only  have  you  altered  the  idea  of  the  Christian 
God,  but  you  strive  to  suppress  God  altogether. 
Let  positivism,  materialism,  pantheism,  the  ideas 
and  the  lives  of  scejîtics,  do  their  work,  and  suffer 
yourselves  to  be  invaded  by  the  vices  of  this 
degrading  civilization;  know  that  when  the  idea 
of  God  alters,  humanity  alters.  When  the  idea  of 
God  is  suppressed,  humanity  is  suppressed.  It  is 
destroyed  by  wars,  and  by  luxury  more  destructive 
than  wars.  When  God  disappears,  races  become 
degraded  and  humanity  extinct.  I  do  not  wish  to 
revive  the  prophecies  of  Jeremiah,  and  to  exag- 
gerate before  your  eyes  this  awful  prospect,  but 
3^ou  must  admit  it  would  be  but  just  to  renew  the 
maledictions  of  the  prophets  against  a  humanity 
that  no  longer  recognizes  its  Father — which,  after 
having  loved,  prayed  to,  and  received  Him,  now 
blasphemes  and  will  have  no  more  of  Him — that 
exclaims,  "  Enough  !  Thou  art  a  burden  to  me  ! 
away,  thou  God  that  pursuest  me  !    I  want  no  more 


218  SCIENCE    WITHOUT    GOD. 

either  of  Thy  Christ  or  Thy  divine  love.  I  want 
my  earth,  my  science,  and  my  own  hfe.  I  want  to 
belong  to  myself  !  " 

0  you  Christians,  when  you  pray  to  God  and 
raise  yom*  hands  to  Him,  ask  that  the  denial  of 
God  may  not  prevail  in  our  land,  in  our  country, 
and  in  our  age.  For,  I  swear  it  to  you,  if  the 
denial  of  God  should  prevail,  there  would  be  an 
end  of  our  country,  of  Europe,  and  of  this  planet. 
The  day  in  w^hich  absolute  blasphemy  shall  spring 
from  the  desolate  heart  and  the  degraded  nature 
of  this  generation,  believe  me,  the  deluge  of  fire 
will  come,  and  God  the  Avenger  will  open  under 
the  feet  of  this  miserable  humanity  the  tomb  which 
will  engulf  it.  Let  it  not  be  so.  Let  us  not  be 
still  before  this  melancholy  prospect.  Let  us  strive 
for  a  better  hope.  We  have  a  vigorous  army  of 
Crusaders  to  rally  round  the  Cross,  and  we  shall 
yet  see  a  youth  full  of  hope,  which  will  inflict  an 
utter  defeat  on  all  those  who  wish  and  think  they 
are  able  to  destroy  God. 

Fear  not.  However  few  there  may  be  who  wish 
to  retain  Him,  God  will  remain.  The  idea  of  God 
will  revive,  will  spread,  and  will  conquer.  If  there 
were  but  five  just  men,  five  just  would  suffice. 
They  would  rekindle  faith  in  God,  in  His  Christ, 
and  in  His  Chm'ch,  and  thus  in  that  religious  faith 
on  which  the  future  and  the  happiness  of  om- 
country  depends. 


PRINTED    BY   WILLIAM    CLOWES    AND   SONS,  LIMITED,  LONDON  AND    BECCLES. 


m  Religion. 

By  Rev.  George  W.  Shinn,  Newton,  Mass. 
Ii6  pp.,  iSmo,  cloth,  §oc.;  boards,  2^c. 


"A  ven'  good  little  manual.  It  gives  simple  and  practical 
replies  to  such  questions  as  relate  to  faith  in  a  God,  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, in  a  divine  Christ,  and  in  supernatural  help." — The  Indc- 
pende)it. 

"Young  men,  in  all  the  varied  phases  of  business,  would  be 
apt  to  think  favorably  if  a  work  of  this  kind  were  put  into  their 
hands  by  a  friend,  an  employer,  or  any  one  from  whom  such  a 
gift  could  not  be  regarded  as  an  impertinence." — The  Church 
Standard. 

"All  Mr.  Shinn's  manuals  are  useful.  This  will  prove  more 
serviceable  than  any." — The  Iowa  Churchman. 

"Very  helpful  in  meeting  the  ignorance  and  shallow  skepticism 
so  prevalent." — The  Chtirch  Eclectic. 

"This  little  book  will  be  found  very  interesting,  not  only  for 
'beginners  in  religion,'  but  for  all  who  are  called  upon  'to  give  a 
reason  for  the  hope  there  is  in  them.'  It  is  especially  necessary 
in  this  day,  that  all  believers  should  know  ivhy  they  believe,  for 
the  spirit  of  the  pge  is  decidedly  against  believing  what  y<  u  are 
told  simply  because  you  are  told.  *  *  *  The  young  have  heard 
of  the  objections  from  those  not  friendly  to  religion,  and  have  no 
answer  to  make  because  they  are  taken  by  surprise.  *  *  * 
The  subjects  are  treated  with  fairness;  the  positions  taken  are 
...oderatc  and  well  sustained.  *  *  *  'pi^g  form  of  the  treatis. 
and  the  cheapness  of  the  volume  render  it  available  as  a  manu? 
for  schools  and  Bible-classes." — The  Living  Church. 


THOilIAS  WHITTAKER,  Publisher, 
2&3  BIBLE  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK 


One  volume,  ha?idsomely  printed,  j^4  pp.,  l2mo,  cloth 
extra,  $i'^o. 


llodefnBeroesoftlie 


By  the  Rt.  Rev.  W.  Pakenham  Walsh,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 

Ossary,  Ferns  and  Leighlin.     Author  of   ''Heroes  of 

the  Mission  Field,"  "  The  Moabite  Stone,"  etc. 


COISTTEnSTTS: 

I.  Henry  Martyn:  India  and  Persia,   1805-1812. 

II.  William  Carey:  India,  1 793-1834. 

III.  Adoniram  Judson  :  Burmah,  1813-1850. 

IV.  Robert  Morrison  :  China,  1 807-1 834. 

V.  Samuel  Marsden  :  New  Zealand,  1814-1838. 

VI.  John  Williams  :  Polynesia,  1817-1839. 

VII.  William  Johnson  :  West  Africa,  1816-1823. 

VIII.  John  Hunt:  Fiji,  i838-i848._ 

IX.  Allen  Gardiner:  South  America,  1 835-1 851 

X.  Alexander  Duff:  India,  1829-1864. 

XI.  David  Livingstone  :  Africa,  1840-1873. 

XII.  Bishop  Patteson:  Melanesia,  1855-1871. 

"  The  American  reading  world  owes  a  debt  of  thanks  to  the 
publisher  for  bringing  out  so  good  a  book  in  a  style  of  type  and 
paper  which  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  The  book  is  one  which 
must  be  read  by  those  who  would  know  its  merits.  No  news- 
paper notice  can  do  justice  to  it.  " —  The  Living  Chwrh. 

"It  is  entitled  to  a  place  in  every  library,  and  should  be 
purchased  and  read  by  every  one  interested  in  the  work  of  Foreign 
Missions." — Gospel  in  all  Lands. 

"A  good  book  to  have  in  hand  if  one  is  to  keep  the  divine 
spirit  of  the  missionary  work  close  to  his  heart." — Standard  of  the 
Cross. 

THOMAS  WHITTAKEE,  Publisher, 

a    &    3    BIBI.Ë     HOUSE,     NEIJV     YORK. 


%n  \nhmhph.  il^upbîj  îit  i\$  Jà^t 

The  great  meaning  of  the  word  A fetanoi a  — lost  in  the  old  version, 
unrecovered  in  the  new.      By  Treadwell  Walden. 

Svo,  paper,    2^   cts.  ;    cloth,    §0   cts. 

"  Able,  excellent,  truthful.     *     *     *     Has  my  cordial  approval. 

"Dr.  PHILIP  SCHAFF." 

'_'  I  cannot  refrain  longer  to  tell  you  how  profoundly  important  I  feel  the 
points  you  make  to  be.  *  *  *  I  am  .sure  that  many  of  our  most  disastrous 
failures  in  commending  Christianity  to  unbelievine  minds,  especially  minds  of 
a  manly  character,  have  their  cause  just  here.        Dr.  J.  F.  GARRISON." 

"The  essay  has  very  great  value.  It  gives  the  view  of  this  term  which  I 
have  long  held.  Dr.  MULFORD." 

"Scholarly,  brilliant,  exhaustive.  *  *  *  Yqu  have  done  a  good  service 
in  this  elegant  and  powerful  portraiture  of  the  great  truth  of  Christian  life. 

"Dr.  H.  N.  POWERS." 
From  the  Rev.  Phillifs  Brooks,  D.D. 

"I  have  just  read  your  'metanoia'  through  from  beginning  to  end,  and  I 
want  to  tell  you  how  much  I  enjoyed  it,  and  how  much  I  thank  you  for  sending 
it  to  me.  It  is  full  of  inspiration.  It  makes  one  think  of  Christian  faith  as 
positive  and  constructive,  ami  not  merely  destructive  and  remedial.  It  makes 
the  work  of  Christ  seem  worthy  of  Christ.  I  thank  you  truly,  both  for  writing 
it  and  giving  it  to  me.  Your  sincere  friend,  PHILLIPS  BROOKS. 

'"Boston,  Mass."- 


CHEAP    EDITION    OF    AN    ENJOYABLE    BOOK. 
A  Life  of  Robert  Stephen  Hawker,  M.A.      By  .S.  Baring-Gould. 

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been  written  since  Isaak  Walton  sharpened  his  pen  to  tell  the  story  of  Richard 
Hooker,  George  Herbert,  and  the  other  worthies  of  the  tempestuous  age  which 
preceded  him.  *  *  *  A  book  which  contains  more  good  stories  than  any  other 
ecclesiastical  biography  that  has  been  written  within  our  memory.  *  *  * 
Every  bilious  person  ought  to  have  a  copy.  It  is  a  most  enjoyable  book." — 
The  Standard  0/  the  Cross. 

"  All  who  are  fond  of  original  characters  and  enjoy  a  hearty  laugh,  ought  to 
get  this  biography." — American  Church  Review. 


Thomas  Whittaker,  Publisher,  2  k  3  Bible  House,  N.  Y. 


<lSm^m^ 


cclcsia  âfBngltcana. 


A  History  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  England,  from 
the  Earliest  to  the  Present  Times.  By  Arthur 
Charles  Jennings,  M.A.  With  marginal  Sum- 
maries of  paragraphs,  and  full  alphabetical  Index. 


J02  p/>.,  J2;;w,  tr/ûf/i,  red  edges,      r      .      .     Price^  $2.2^. 


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England  that  will  be  a  boon  to  the  professor  of  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory and  a  comfort  to  his  students.  Put  together  Bates'  College 
Lectures,  Carwithen,  Churton,  Short,  and  all  the  other  books 
through  which  we  used  to  be  obliged  to  wade  in  order  to  acquaint 
ourselves,  tolerably,  with  the  history  of  our  Church,  and  we  should 
not  do  more  than  begin  to  approach  to  exact  knowledge  of  its 
history  which  Mr.  Jennings  has  furnished  us  in  this  single  volume. 
*  *  *  He  follows  none  of  the  old  style  types  of  so-called  his- 
tory, which  consists  mainly  in  hero-building.  Every  man,  no 
matter  who,  stands  or  lails,  by  him,  according  to  his  personal 
worth  and  actual  value  in  the  Church  events  of  his  time.  Alto- 
gether, this  work  is  destined  for  long  use  by  students  of  its  subj-ect, 
and  we  regard  its  production  as  one  of  the  noticeable  events  of  the 
present  year." — TJie  Living  Church. 

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"One  of  the  most  needed  and  best  written  historical  manuals 
which  has  appeared  for  a  long  time.  " —  The  Standard  of  the  Cross. 

"The  volume  is  packed  with  information,  given  generally  in  a 
clear,  vivid  way." — The  Lndependent. 

"We  know  of  no  general  history  of  the  English  Church  which 
is  as  likely  to  be  as  serviceable  as  this,  and  we  are  glad  to  recom- 
mend it  to  our  readers." — The  Churchman. 


THOMAS  WHITTAKER,  Publislier, 
Nos.  2  &  3  BIBLE   HOUSE,  NEW  YORK. 


ANDREW  JUKES'  NEW  WORK. 

Tlje  New  Mai)  and  tlje  Eter[]al  Life. 

Notes  on  the  Reiterated  Amens  of  the  Son  of  God. 
By  Andrew  Jukes,  author  of  "Types  of  Genesis," 
■'The  Restitution  of  all  Things,"  "The  Law  of 
the  Offerings,"  "  Characteristic  Differences  of  the 
Four  Gospels,"  etc. 

2ç6  pp.,  i2mo,  cloth,  .  .  .  Price,  $1.73. 


"'Verily,  verily!'  Many  times  did  our  Lord  employ  these 
iniroductory  terms  in  His  discourse.  *  *  *  At  twelve  distinct 
times  does  Christ  arouse  attention  to  specific  doctrines  of  the 
kingdom  by  such  reiterations  Our  author  takes  up  these  twelve 
cases  and  develops  the  respective  deliverances  of  ihe  Saviour  in 
the  connection.  He  writes  wiih  intense  feeling,  and  with  a  full- 
ness of  Scripture  knowledge  which  seems  exceptional.  There  is 
much  that  is  stimulating  and  suggestive,  both  in  the  conception  of 
his  work  and  in  its  execution.  *  *  *  'pj^g  work  is  a  most 
helpful  one,  and  makes  a  worthy  addition  to  the  list  of  books 
already  published  by  this  author." — The  Standard,  Chicago. 

"  Andrew  Jukes  is  a  voluminous  writer,  but  he  is  an  original  and 
profound  thinker  as  well.  His  '  New  Man  and  the  Eternal  Life' 
is  one  of  the  most  original  and  ingenious  of  his  works,  and  will 
have,  as  it  ous^ht  to  have,  a  large  circulation  in  this  country." — 
The  Parish  Visitor. 

"We  have  found  the  book  suggestive  and  spiritually  stimulat- 
ing."—  The  Congregaiionalist . 

"  They  who  want  a  rich  feast  may  herein  eat  and  be  satisfied. 
'  The  New  Man  '  should  be  read  slowly  and  with  concentration  ; 
thus  every  particle  will  be  enjoyed." — The  Living  Church. 

"  The  argument  throughout  the  book  is  well  sustained  and 
intensely  interesting.  Entirely  original,  it  is  a  book  which  will  be 
read  and  re-read  with  ever-increasing  pleasure  and  profit." — The 
Church  Guardian.  Halifax. 


THOMAS  WHITTAKER,    Publisher, 

«fc    3     BIBLE     HOUSE,    NEW    l^OKIC. 


Shidies  in   the   History  of  the 
Prayer  Book. 

[  The  Anglican  Reform.  The  Puritan  Innovations. 
The  Elizabethan  Reaction.  The  Caroline  Settle- 
ment.]    With  Appendices. 

By  Herbert  Mortimer  Luckock,  D.D.,  author  of 
"After  Death." 

i2mo,  doth,  uncut  edges,      ....      Price,  $i.^o. 


"The  Canon  of  Ely  has  ah-eady  distinguished  himself  by  his 
book,  'After  Death.'  In  that  publication  he  proved  himself 
the  possessor  of  a  fine  intellect  and  a  well  trained  pen.  In  his 
new  work,  entitled  'Studies  in  the  History  of  the  Prayer  Book,' 
he  fully  maintains  the  standard  of  his  first  treatise.  His  divisions 
have  a  ring  about  them  very  like  the  touch  of  that  master  of  Eng- 
lish history,  John  Richard  Green.  The  reader  feels  that  in 
following  such  a  teacher  he  has  at  least  a  living  thought  as  the 
clue  to  guide  him  among  the  intricacies  and  technicalities  of  litur- 
gical study.  Dr.  Luckock  does  not  seem  to  have  reached  the 
very  highest  round  in  the  ladder  of  Anglican  Catholicity,  but  is 
well  up  in  that  direction.  He  is  near  enough  to  Dean  Stanley  to 
emulate  the  realistic  touches  in  '  The  History  of  the  Eastern 
Church,'  and  at  the  same  time  is  near  enough  to  Canon  Liddon  to 
preserve  his  clearness  of  statement  on  theological  points.  He  has 
succeeded  in  clothing  some  very  dry  bones  with  flesh  quite  rosy 
and  palpitating.  The  book  is  thoroughly  polished  and  attractive, 
and  must  secure  a  decided  success  as  the  most  readable  work  of 
its  special  class." — The  Episcopal  Register. 

"  It  is  just  the  book  that  every  student  of  the  Prayer  Book  has 
wanted." — Standard  of  the  Cross. 

"Liturgical  development  is  becoming  a  matter  of  absorbing 
interest,  not  only  within  but  without  the  Church,  and  the  work  of 
Canon  Luckock  may  be  regarded  as  a  valuable  contribution  to  the 
literature  of  the  subject." — The  Churchman. 


Thomas  Whittaker,  Publisher,  2  &  3  Bible  House,  N.  Y. 


New  Sermons,  full  of  Thought,  gentle  Charity,  and  Spirituality. 

Knigl)t-Banncrd. 

By  Joseph  Cross,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
30 J  pp.,  121110,  cloth, Price,  $1.^0. 


CON 

1.  Jehovah-Nissi. 

2.  Satan  Evicted. 

3.  The  Preaching  of  the  Cross. 

4.  The  Precious  Volume. 

5.  Elijah,  the  Tishbite. 

6.  Storming  the  Kingdom. 
7    The  Songs  of  Zion. 

8.  Sanctified  Solitude. 

g.  Crown-Jewels  for  Christ. 

10.  The  Deceitful  Tongue. 

11.  The  Tongue  Reformed. 


TENTS: 

12.  An  Odious  Mouthful. 

13.  Throne  of  Iniquity. 

14.  Battle-call  of  Reform. 

15.  Waiting  for  the  Lord. 

16.  Armageddon. 

17.  Day  of  Judgment. 

18.  First  Resurrection. 

19.  Millennial  Kingdom.. 

20.  Israel's  Destiny. 

21.  Sigh  for  the  Old  Year. 

22.  Song  for  the  New  Year. 

4, 

Cl)c  Greatness  of  €l)nst. 

And  other  Sermons.     By  Alexander  Crummell,  D.D.,  Rector 
of  St.  Luke's  (Colored)  Church,  Washington,  D.C. 

i2mo,  clotJi, Price,  ■$'!  jo. 

Extract  from  the  Introduction  by  Rt.  Rev.  Thos.  Marsh  Clark,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
"  He  ha.s  ventured  to  give  to  the  general  public  this  volume,  hoping  that  he 
may  thus  reach  a  larger  congregation  than  could  be  gathered  within  sound  of 
his  living  voice,  and  also  add  something  to  his  not  over  generous  income.  I 
think  that  I  may  assure  the  reader  that  he  will  find  something  in  these  dis- 
course^  that  is  fresh  and  original.  The  topics  considered  are  varied  and  inter- 
esting, the  counsel  the  preacher  gives  to  his  people  is  sound  and  practical,  and 
the  sermons  are  pervaded  by  the  life  and  light  and  unction  of  the  (iospel." 

CONTENTS; 


1.  The  Greatness  of  Christ. 

2.  The  F.miily. 

3.  Marriage. 

4.  The  Lamb  of  Gon. 

5.  Rising  •w-ith  Christ. 

6.  Glorifying  God. 

V.  Unbelieving  Nazareth. 

8.  The  Re.iection  of  .Jesus. 

9.  The  Motives  to  Disciplesiiip. 

10.  The  Agencies  to  Saixtlt  Sani 

fication. 

11.  Affluence  and  Receptivity. 


1:2.  Christ     Receiving    and    E.vtinq- 
WITH  Sinners. 

13.  The  Discipline  of  Human  Powers. 

14.  Joseph. 

15.  Influence. 

16.  Building  Men. 

17.  Christian  Conversation. 

18.  The   Social   Principle   among   a 

People. 

19.  The  Assassination  of  President 

Garfield. 
iO.  The  Destined  Superiority  of  the 
Negro. 


THOMAS  WIUTTAKER,  Publisher,  Nos.  %  and  3  Bible  House,  New  York. 


Talks  to  Young  Men.     By  Rev.   Robert  S.   Barrett. 
i6mo,  cloth,  handsomely  stamped  in  gold  a7id  ink,  .      .    Price,  joc. 

"  The  Rev.  R.  S.  Barrett's  Talks  to  Young  Men  on  Character  Building 
deserve  to  be  commended.  Mr.  Barrett  is  the  rector  of  St.  Paul's,  Hender- 
son, Ky.,  and  this  volume  is  the  report  of  his  unwritten  Sunday  evening  ad- 
dresses. They  are  manly,  lively,  and  fruitful  off-hand  discourses,  such  as 
come  only  from  an  effective  preacher,  and  make  up  an  e.\cellent  volume  to  be 
placed  in  the  hands  of  young  men." — 'Ihe  IndeJ>endent. 

-^ 

NEW  EDITION  OF  AN  OLD  FAVORITE. 

The  Rector  of  St.  Bardolplt  s  ; 

Or,  Superannuated.     By  Frederick  W.  Shelton,  D.D.,  author 
of  "  Salander  and  the  Dragon,"  "  Peeps  from  a  Belfry,"  etc. 
^44 pp.,  i2mo,  cloth  extra,  price,  %i.2^. 

"  It  is  many  years  since  this  book,  now  re-issued,  first  appeared.  In  the 
past  it  has  accomplished  not  only  an  interesting  but  also  a  very  useful  task, 
and.  for  the  long  future,  we  trust  it  is  destined  to  continue  its  mission  of  good- 
humored  instruction  on  the  relations  of  pastor  and  people.  To  the  younger 
clergy,  who  may  expect  to  meet  just  such  'snags,'  and  would  know  how  to 
steer  the  sensitive  bark  of  their  personal  ministry  safe  around  and  bv  them,  we 
would  commend  a  quiet  evening  by  this  winter's  fireside,  with  'The  Rector 
of  .St.  Eardolph's'  in  their  hands,  as  a  friendly  chart  and  sensible  guide. 
Equally  we  recommend  all  those  who  have  their  eyes  upon  other  folks  that  are 
'  cantankerous,'  to  get  the  book,  and  deal  out  to  them  gathered  counsels  from 
its  pages." —  The  Livitig  C/iurch. 

THIK  TEEN  TH  EDI  TION. 

Short  Sermons 

For  Families  and  Destitute  Parishes.    By  ToHN  N.  Norton,  D.D., 
author   of    "Every   Sunday,"   "Golden  Truths,"   "  Warning  and 
Teaching,"  "Old  Paths,"  "The  King's  Ferry-boat,"  etc.,  etc. 
487  pp  ,  8vo,  cloth,  price,  %2.oo. 

"  The  late  Dr.  Norton  *  *  *  had  remarkable  ability  to  interest  plain 
people,  and  this  collection  of  sermons  for  families  and  destitute  parishes  holds 
its  place  among  the  volumes  of  sermons  useful  for  lay  reading  chielly  on  the 
ground  of  the  author's  art  of  putting  things.  The  Sermons  cover  a  wide 
range,  and  are  so  interesting  that  one  likes  to  read  them  again  and  again. 
They  are  probably  the  best  of  their  kind." — Ttie  Statidard  0/  tlie  Cross. 

"  This  new  issue  is  proof  enough  of  the  popularity  and  adaptedness  for  the 
purpose  expressed  " — The  Cliurcli  Eclectic. 

The  Bishop  of  Missouri  says  :  "  I  have  frequently,  in  public  and  in  private, 
recommended  Dr.  Norton's  books." 

The  BiSHOF  OF  Nrw  Jersey  says:  "  I  always  recommend  them." 

THOMAS  WllITTAKER,  PUBUSIlEll,  i  k  %mU  HOUSE.  NEW  YORK. 


